Franz-Olivier Giesbert was born in Wilmington, Delaware, USA, in 1949, to an American father and a French mother. He arrived in France at the age of three. After working on the literary page of Paris-Normandie, he joined the Nouvel Observateur in 1971. Successively political journalist, senior reporter, Washington correspondent and head of the political department, he became editorial director of the weekly in 1985. In 1988, he was appointed editorial director of Le Figaro. From 1997, he hosted a number of literary and cultural programs, as well as "Les Grandes questions" on France 5 until 2015. In 2000, he became director of Le Point, a position he left in March 2014, but remained an editorialist with the magazine. He was then editorial director of La Provence until 2021. He is a member of the jury for the Prix Renaudot, Prix Aujourd'hui and Prix du Quai des Orfèvres, among others.
He has published several novels, including Chirac, Une vie, Grand prix de la biographie politique (2016), L'Arracheuse de dents (Gallimard, March 2016) (Prix Récamier), Belle d'amour (Gallimard) (Prix Terre des Templiers - June 2017), Le théâtre des incapables (Albin Michel, 2017). La dernière fois que j'ai rencontré Dieu (Gallimard, 2018), Le Schmock (Gallimard, 2019), Dernier été (Gallimard, 2020).
His latest publications are Leçon de vie, de mort et d'amour, Presses de la Cité and
Rien qu'une bête, Albin Michel, Histoire intime de la Vè République (in three volumes)
- Le sursaut (Volume 1)
- La belle époque (Volume 2)
- The third volume will be published in November.
Language spoken: French
Photo credit: Khan RENAUD