Edmonde Charlesroux

Vocation

Notable

French editor, writer and reporter, she served as a nurse as well as a resistance fighter during WWII. She was wounded during the war and received the Croix de Guerre. In 1945 she was made Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur. After the war she became a reporter, and she served as editor-in-chief of Vogue magazine from 1954-1966. Her books include works of fiction, with her first novel publsihed in 1966. She has authored several books on fashion and designers such as Coco Chanel and Yves St. Laurent. In 1966 her novel Oubier Palerme obtained the Prix Goncourt. The novel was adapted to film. She became a member of the Académie Goncourt in 1983 and president in 2002. In 2008, she was part of the Commission headed by Hugues Gall and charged by Christine Albanel, Minister of Culture, with the post of Director of the French Academy in Rome, Villa Medici. In April 2010, she was awarded by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, with the knighthood of Commandeur de la Légion d'Honneur. Link to Wikipedia biography