"I don't put on music when I write. I hate background music; I either listen to music or I don't listen to it at all."

Françoise Sagan, born Françoise Quoirez on June 21, 1935 in Cajarc (Lot) and died on September 24, 2004 in Honfleur (Calvados), was a French writer, an emblematic figure of the queer and feminist movement.

In 1960, during the Algerian War, she signed the Declaration on the Rights of Insubordination in Wartime, supporting the insubordination of conscripts — a text also known as the Manifesto of the 121.

In April 1971, she signed the Manifesto of the 343, also known as the Manifesto of the 343 Bitches, and later ceded her Polish rights to Solidarity.

Resources

Billie Holiday as seen by Françoise Sagan

Françoise Sagan: "Billie Holiday's voice breaks my heart"

"Bonjour tristesse" by Françoise Sagan, to be discovered with your ears