Christian Giudicelli

Christian Giudicelli (27 June 1942 – 14 May 2022) was a French novelist and literary critic. His seventh novel, Station balnéaire, was awarded the 1986 Prix Renaudot. Giudicelli was one of the eight jury members of the French literary award Prix Contrepoint.

Giudicelli was born in Nîmes. He was a jury member of the Renaudot French literary prize since 1993.

He contributed to literary publications including, La Nouvelle Revue française, Combat, Cahiers des saisons, La Quinzaine littéraire, Le Figaro Magazine, Écrivain magazine, as well as literary programs on France Culture.

His writing is intimate, sensitive and melancholy; he draws the material for his novels and stories from his own experiences, travels, and friendships. He lived in Paris since the early 1960s. However, his works are largely unread; his last book, in 2019, sold only 180 copies.

His close friendship with writer and accused paedophile Gabriel Matzneff is mentioned in his books, Les Spectre Joyeux and Gabriel infiniment aimable. He agreed to hide incriminating letters and photographs of Vanessa Springora for Matzneff, whom Springora accused of taking her as his lover when she was 14, according to Matzneff's writings. Giudicelli died of cancer in Paris at the age of 79 on 14 May 2022.