List of French novelists

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. c. Template:Trim–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".
• 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)
• 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)
• 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 Goncourt prize, 2016
• Beatrice Hammer (born 1963)
• Nadine Ribault (1964–2021)
• Sedef Ecer (born 1965)
• Jeanne-A Debats (born 1965)
• Basile Panurgias (born 1967)
• Fabienne Kanor (born 1970)
• Laurent Binet (born 1972)
• Maëlle Guillaud (born 1974)
• Tristan Garcia (born 1981)
• 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