Maurice Druon

Maurice Druon (April 23, 1918 – April 14, 2009) was a French novelist and a member of the Académie française.

Born in Paris, France, Druon was the son of a Russian immigrant, Lazare Kessel, and was brought up at La Croix-Saint-Leufroy in Normandy and educated at the lycée Michelet de Vanves. His father committed suicide before Maurice was born, and his mother remarried in 1926; Maurice subsequently took the name of his adoptive father, the lawyer René Druon (1874-1961).

He was the nephew of the writer Joseph Kessel, with whom he translated the Chant des Partisans, a French Resistance anthem of World War II, with music and words (in Russian) originally by Anna Marly. Druon was a member of the Resistance and came to London in 1943 to participate in the BBC's "Honneur et Patrie" programme.

Druon began writing for literary journals at the age of 18. In September 1939, having been called up for military service, he wrote an article for Paris-Soir entitled "J'ai vingt ans et je pars (I am twenty years old and I am leaving)". Following the fall of France in 1940, he was demobilised and remained in the free region of France, and his first play, Mégarée, was produced in Monte Carlo in February 1942. He left the same year to join the forces of Charles de Gaulle. Druon became aide de camp to General François d'Astier de La Vigerie.

In 1948 he received the Prix Goncourt for his novel Les grandes familles (The Rise of Simon Lachaume).

He was elected to the 30th seat of the Académie française on December 8, 1966, succeeding Georges Duhamel. On the death of Henri Troyat on 2 March 2007, he became the Dean of the Académie, its longest-serving member.

While his scholarly writing earned him a seat at the Académie, he is best known for a series of seven historical novels published in the 1950s under the title Les Rois Maudits (The Accursed Kings). The novels were adapted for French television in 1972, gaining a wider audience through overseas sales, and again in 2005, starring Jeanne Moreau.

He was Minister of Cultural Affairs (1973–1974) in Pierre Messmer's cabinet, and a deputy of Paris (1978–1981).

Druon was a descendant of Brazilian author Odorico Mendes.