Gary KlangGary Klang (born December 28, 1941, in Port-au-Prince Haiti), is a Haitian-Canadian poet and novelist. Since 2007, he is the president of the prestigious "Conseil des Écrivains francophones d'Amérique" (Council of America's francophone writers). Klang's work is very rich. It includes novels, poetry, short stories and essays. On July 14, 2000, "l'Union Française à Montréal" (the French Union of Montreal) chose Gary as the promoter of the French national holiday marking the storming of the Bastille.
Jean DegottexJean Degottex (born in Sathonay-Camp on 25 February 1918; died in Paris on 9 December 1988) was a French abstract painter, known in particular for his initial proximity with the lyrical abstraction movement of the 1950s and 1960s. He is considered an important artist of the abstraction movement in the second half of the twentieth century and a significant inspiration for contemporary art. Degottex was particularly inspired by East Asian calligraphy and Zen philosophy in achieving the erasure of the creative subject.
Jérôme Phélypeaux, Count of PontchartrainJérôme Phélypeaux (March 1674 – 8 February 1747), comte de (count of) Pontchartrain, was a French statesman, son of Louis Phélypeaux. He served as a councillor to the parlement of Paris from 1692, and served with his father as Secretary of State of the Maison du Roi and Navy Minister from 1699 onwards. His management of the French Navy was criticised, but recent historiography has reevaluated his contributions. He directed a significant programme of explorations and encouraged the settlement and development of Louisiana.
Jérôme DorivalJérôme Dorival (born in 1952) is a French clarinetist, composer and musicologist. Born in Paris, Jérôme Dorival is one of the four sons of historian and art critic, Bernard Dorival. He studied at the Conservatoire de Paris with Norbert Dufourcq and Rémy Stricker, and at the Sorbonne with Albert Soboul, Pierre Vilar, Dominique Julia and Alphonse Dupront. His doctoral thesis in musicology deals with La Cantatille en France au XVIII, under the direction of Jacques Chailley.
Speedy GraphitoSpeedy Graphito (or Olivier Rizzo) is a French painter who is considered a pioneer of the French Street Art movement. Speedy Graphito uses stencils and brush to create paintings, prints and street art murals. Since 1984, his work has appeared in numerous exhibitions worldwide and he has created many performance events. Speedy Graphito was born in Paris in 1961. In 1983, after a brief career as a graphic designer and art director, he joined the collective X-Moulinex. He left X-Moulinex in 1984.
Govindan RangarajanGovindan Rangarajan, (b. 18 September 1963) is an Indian mathematician, academician, and a professor. He is currently serving as the Director of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) at Bangalore, India and as a professor in the Department of Mathematics at the same. Rangarajan obtained his integrated Master of Science degree with honours from Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani, in 1985, and his PhD degree from the University of Maryland, College Park, in 1990.
Marguerite YourcenarMarguerite Yourcenar (UKˈjʊərsənɑːr,_ˈjʊkənɑːr, USˌjʊərsəˈnɑːr, maʁɡ(ə)ʁit juʁsənaʁ; born Marguerite Antoinette Jeanne Marie Ghislaine Cleenewerck de Crayencour; 8 June 1903 – 17 December 1987) was a Belgian-born French novelist and essayist who became a US citizen in 1947. Winner of the Prix Femina and the Erasmus Prize, she was the first woman elected to the Académie Française, in 1980.
Augustin BerqueAugustin Berque (born 1942 in Rabat, Morocco), is a French geographer, Orientalist and philosopher. He is the son of the famous Egyptologist Jacques Berque. He is professor at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales in Paris (EHESS). His specialist field of interest is Japan. Berque has developed an extensive array of concepts in order to grasp the complex nature of relations between natural and physical objects and the way we conceive of nature. He insists on intermediation, introducing a new concept (Médiance).
Jean-Louis FlorentzJean-Louis Florentz (19 December 1947 – 4 July 2004) was a French composer. Born in Asnières-sur-Seine, Florentz was a student of Pierre Schaeffer and Olivier Messiaen. In 1978, he won the Lili Boulanger composition prize, followed by various prizes from the SACEM and the Institut de France. His incessant travels to Africa allowed him to study ethnomusicology and linguistics. He was a friend of Olivier Latry, organist of Notre-Dame.
Jeanne GalzyJeanne Galzy (1883–1977), born Louise Jeanne Baraduc, was a French novelist and biographer from Montpellier. She was a long-time member of the jury for the Prix Femina. Largely forgotten today, she was known as a regional author, but also wrote three novels early in her career that explore lesbian topics; she has been referred to as one of the "pioneers in the writing of lesbian desire and despair." Galzy was born in 1883 in Montpellier, France, the daughter of a wholesaler and an unpublished poet.
