This is a list of novelists from France. Novelists in this list should be notable in some way, and have Wikipedia articles on them.

See also French novelists Category Index.

Born before 1800

  • Antoine de la Sale (1385-1460/61)
  • Philippe Camus (writer) (fl. 15th century)
  • Sébastien Mamerot (between c. 1418 and 1440–1490)
  • Dr. François Rabelais (between 1483 and 1494–1553)
  • François de Belleforest (1530–1 January 1583)
  • François Béroalde de Verville (27 April 1556 – 19–26 October 1626)
  • Nicolas de Montreux (c. 1561–1608)
  • Marie de Gournay (1565–1645)
  • Honoré d'Urfé (1568–1625)
  • Antoine de Nervèze (c. 1570-after 1622)
  • François du Souhait (between 1570 and 1580–1617)
  • Jean Ogier de Gombauld (1576–1666)
  • Charles Sorel (c. 1602–1674)
  • Madeleine de Scudéry (1607–1701)
  • Madame de Lafayette (1634–1693), author of La Princesse de Clèves
  • Alain-René Le Sage (1668–1747)
  • Pierre de Marivaux (1688–1763)
  • Voltaire (1694–1778), philosophe, satirist, playwright, author of Candide
  • Françoise de Graffigny (1695–1758), author of Lettres d'une Péruvienne
  • Abbé Prévost (1697–1763), author of Manon Lescaut
  • Claude Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon (1707–1777)
  • Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778), philosophe, author of Julie, or the New Heloise
  • Denis Diderot (1713–1784), philosophe, author of Rameau's Nephew
  • Marie Jeanne Riccoboni (1714–1792)
  • Restif de la Bretonne (1734–1806)
  • Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre (1737–1814), author of Paul et Virginie
  • Marquis de Sade (1740–1814), author of "Dialogue Between a Priest and a Dying Man", Justine, The 120 Days of Sodom, Philosophy in the Bedroom, and Juliette
  • Choderlos de Laclos (1741–1803), author of Les Liaisons dangereuses
  • Anne Louise Germaine de Staël (1766–1817)
  • Benjamin Constant (1767–1830), author of Adolphe
  • Sophie de Renneville (1772–1822), writer, editor, journalist
  • François-René de Chateaubriand (1768–1848), author of Atala and René
  • Étienne Pivert de Senancour (1770–1846)
  • Charles Nodier (1780–1844)
  • Fanny Tercy (1782–1851), author of Pierre et Marcellin; sister-in-law of Charles Nodier
  • Stendhal (1783–1842), author of The Red and the Black, considered by some to be the first modern novel, and The Charterhouse of Parma
  • Élise Voïart, (1786–1866), writer and translator
  • Charles Paul de Kock (1793–1871)
  • Antoinette Henriette Clémence Robert (1797–1872)
  • Charles Dezobry (1798–1871), historian and historical novelist
  • Honoré de Balzac (1799–1850), author of La Comédie Humaine, a series of novels presenting a full picture of France in the early 19th century

Born 1800–1900

  • Alexandre Dumas, père (1802–1870), author of The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers
  • Victor Hugo (1802–1885), author of The Hunchback of Notre-Dame and Les Misérables
  • Prosper Mérimée (1803–1870), author of Carmen
  • Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve (1804–1869)
  • George Sand (1804–1876), pseudonym of Amantine Aurore Lucile Dupin, Baroness Dudevant
  • Eugène Sue (1804–1857)
  • Jules Amédée Barbey d'Aurevilly (1808–1889)
  • Alfred de Musset (1810–1857)
  • Théophile Gautier (1811–1872)
  • Gustave Flaubert (1821–1880), author of Madame Bovary and Sentimental Education
  • Edmond de Goncourt (1822–1896)
  • Henri Murger (1822–1861), author of Scènes de la vie de bohème
  • Alexandre Dumas, fils (1824–1895), author of La Dame aux camélias
  • Edmond About (1828–1885)
  • Jules Verne (1828–1905), writer of techno-thrillers like Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas, and founding father of science fiction
  • Pauline Cassin Caro (1828/34/35 – 1901), novelist
  • Jules de Goncourt (1830–1870)
  • Hector Malot (1830–1907)
  • Émile Gaboriau (1832–1873), pioneer of modern detective fiction
  • Jules Vallès (1832–1885)
  • Eugène Le Roy (1836–1907)
  • Alphonse Daudet (1840–1897)
  • Émile Zola (1840–1902), naturalist, author of Germinal and Nana
  • Anatole France (1844–1924)
  • Léon Bloy (1846–1917)
  • Brada (1847–1938)
  • Joris-Karl Huysmans (1848–1907), author of À rebours and Là-bas
  • Guy de Maupassant (1850–1893)
  • Pierre Loti (1850–1923)
  • Élémir Bourges (1852–1925)
  • Paul Bourget (1852–1935)
  • René Bazin (1853–1932)
  • Hermine Lecomte du Noüy (1854–1915)
  • Adolphe Chenevière (1855–19??)
  • Claude Ferval (1856–1943)
  • Jean Bertheroy (1858–1927)
  • Jean de La Brète (1858–1945)
  • Maurice Barrès (1862–1923)
  • Henri Ardel (1863–1938)
  • Henri de Régnier (1864–1936)
  • Jules Renard (1864–1910)
  • Mathilde Alanic (1864–1948)
  • Marie Léra (1864–1958)
  • Juliette Heuzey (1865–1952)
  • Romain Rolland (1866–1944), Nobel Prize in Literature, 1915
  • Gaston Leroux (1868–1927), author of The Phantom of the Opera and The Mystery of the Yellow Room which is recognized as the first locked room puzzle mystery novel
  • Gabrielle Réval (1869–1938)
  • André Gide (1869–1951)
  • Henry Bordeaux (1870–1963)
  • Marcel Proust (1871–1922), author of In Search of Lost Time, sometimes seen as the greatest modernist novel
  • Colette (1873–1954), best known for Gigi and Chéri
  • Alfred Jarry (1873–1907), satirist, inventor of Pataphysics
  • Jeanne Landre (1874–1936), journalist, critic and novelist
  • Fanny Clar (1875–1944)
  • Louisa Emily Dobrée (fl. –1917)
  • Roger Martin du Gard (1881–1958), Nobel Prize in Literature, 1937
  • Louis Pergaud (1882–1915)
  • Rose Combe (1883–1932)
  • Georges Duhamel (1884–1966)
  • François Mauriac (1885–1970), Nobel Prize in Literature, 1952
  • Jules Romains (1885–1972)
  • Alain-Fournier (1886–1914)
  • Ève Paul-Margueritte (1885–1971)
  • Lucie Paul-Margueritte (1886–1955)
  • René Maran (1887–1960)
  • Georges Bernanos (1888–1948)
  • Adrien Bertrand (1888–1917)
  • Henri Bosco (1888–1976)
  • Pierre Drieu La Rochelle (1893–1945), author of Gilles and The Fire Within
  • Louis Ferdinand Céline (1894–1961), author of Journey to the End of the Night and Death on the Installment Plan or Mort à Crédit
  • Rose Celli (1895–1982)
  • Henri de Montherlant (1895–1972)
  • Jean Giono (1895–1970)

Born in or after 1900

  • Julien Green (1900–1998)
  • Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1900–1944)
  • Nathalie Sarraute (1900–1999)
  • André Malraux (1901–1976)
  • Marie-Magdeleine Carbet (1902–1996)
  • Irène Némirovsky (1903–1942), author of Suite française
  • Raymond Queneau (1903–1976)
  • Pierre Herbart (1903–1974)
  • Marguerite Yourcenar (1903–1987)
  • Raymond Radiguet (1903–1923)
  • Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–1980), Nobel Prize in Literature, 1964
  • Jeanine Delpech (1905–1992)
  • Louise Aslanian (1906–1945), pseudonym "Las", author of "The Way of doubt".(1956–...)
  • Paul Gadenne (1907–1956)
  • Pauline Réage (1907–1998)
  • Simone de Beauvoir (1908–1986)
  • Paul Berna (1908–1994)
  • Alix André (1909–2000)
  • Jean Genet (1910–1986)
  • Jean-Louis Baghio'o (1910–1994)
  • Raphaël Tardon (1911–1967)
  • Henri Troyat (1911–2007)
  • Pierre Boulle (1912–1994), author of The Bridge on the River Kwai and Planet of the Apes
  • Albert Camus (1913–1960), Nobel Prize in Literature, 1957
  • Gilbert Cesbron (1913–1979)
  • Albert Cossery (1913–2008)
  • Claude Simon (1913–2005), Nobel Prize in Literature, 1985
  • Romain Gary (1914–1980), winner of the Goncourt prize twice, 1956, and 1975 under the pseudonym of Emile Ajar
  • Marguerite Duras (1914–1996)
  • Joseph Zobel (1915–2006)
  • Maurice Druon (1918–2009)
  • Boris Vian (1920–1959)
  • Alain Robbe-Grillet (1922–2008)
  • Salvat Etchart (1924–1985)
  • Michel Tournier (1924–2016)
  • Philippe Daudy (1925–1994)
  • Michel Butor (1926–2016)
  • Édouard Glissant (1928–2011)
  • André Schwarz-Bart (1928–2006)
  • Sébastien Japrisot (1931–2003)
  • Emmanuelle Arsan (1932–2005)
  • Jean Bernabé (1942–2017)
  • Régine Deforges (1935–2014)
  • Françoise Sagan (1935–2004)
  • Georges Perec (1936–1982)
  • Maryse Condé (1934–2024)
  • J.M.G. Le Clézio (born 1940), Nobel Prize in Literature, 2008
  • Annie Ernaux (born 1940), Nobel Prize in Literature, 2022
  • Marie-Reine de Jaham (born 1940)
  • Patrick Modiano (born 1945), Nobel Prize in Literature, 2014
  • Daniel Maximin (born 1947)
  • Raphaël Confiant (born 1951)
  • Carole Achache (1952–2016)
  • Kama Sywor Kamanda (born 1952)
  • Patrick Chamoiseau (born 1953)
  • Nancy Huston (born 1953)
  • Frederic Monneyron (born 1954)
  • Florence Cadier (born 1956)
  • Gisèle Pineau (born 1956)
  • Fred Vargas (born 1957)
  • Michel Houellebecq (born 1958), Impact award winner
  • Itxaro Borda (born 1959), Euskadi prize winner
  • Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt (born 1960)
  • Charles Dantzig (born 1961)
  • Pavel Hak (born 1962)
  • Marie-Hélène Lafon (born 1962), winner of the Prix Goncourt de la Nouvelle, 2016
  • Beatrice Hammer (born 1963)
  • Nadine Ribault (1964–2021)
  • Sedef Ecer (born 1965)

<!-- *Jeanne-A Debats (born 1965) : no red links in this list -->

  • Basile Panurgias (born 1967)
  • Éric Vuillard (born 1968), winner of the Prix Goncourt, 2017
  • Fabienne Kanor (born 1970)
  • Laurent Binet (born 1972)
  • Maëlle Guillaud (born 1974)
  • Katia Astafieff (born 1975)
  • Tristan Garcia (born 1981)
  • Caroline Laurent (born 1988)
  • Édouard Louis (born 1992)

See also

  • French literature
  • Francophone literature
  • List of French-language authors
  • List of French-language poets
  • List of French people
  • List of novelists
  • List of people by nationality
  • List of people by occupation

References