Nathalie Azoulai

Nathalie Azoulai was born on September 9, 1966, in the Paris region. In 1984, she entered the École Normale Supérieure in Saint-Cloud, majoring in Modern Literature. Three years later, she obtained the agrégation in Modern Literature. After several years of teaching, she transitioned into the publishing industry, where she worked for ten years in various roles and publishing houses.

She published her first novel in 2002, Mère agitée, a fable inspired by her own experience as a mother deeply affected by the birth and early childhood of her children. Eight years later, she followed up with Les filles ont grandi, which recounts the turbulent teenage years of her daughters.

In 2004, she published C’est l’histoire d’une femme qui a un frère, an autobiographical narrative reflecting on her life in the shadow of an adored older brother, and exploring how femininity is shaped from the perspective of a younger sister.

In 2005, she released Les Manifestations, a novel that moves deliberately away from autofiction and embraces a dual-voiced narrative spanning twenty years of friendship and capturing the essence of a generation.

She then moved to Spain for three years and left the publishing world to devote herself fully to writing.

In 2009, she published Une ardeur insensée, which began her exploration of the theatrical world through the experience of actor direction and the role of Phèdre—an exploration that would continue with Titus n’aimait pas Bérénice in 2015. This novel won the Prix Médicis (as well as the Goncourt de l’Orient) and was a finalist for both the Prix Goncourt and the Prix Femina. It has been translated into several languages and is now part of academic and school reading lists.

Alongside her writing, she has designed and led creative writing workshops at Sciences Po Paris, at CELSA, and within the Gallimard publishing house.

She has since published several books with Éditions P.O.L, including Les Spectateurs, Clic-Clac, and En découdre, the last two having been adapted for the stage by Marie-Sophie Ferdane and Xavier Gallais (TNB/Rond-Point production), though unfortunately cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2020, Nathalie Azoulai published Juvenia with Éditions Stock, a satirical and libertine tale currently being adapted for the stage and screen.

She is also the author of a new French translation of Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf, and published La Fille parfaite in January 2022 with Éditions P.O.L.

Nathalie Azoulai is a laureate of the Villa Kujoyama. In June 2021, she became a member of the Femina Prize jury and also serves on the jury of the Vendredi Soir endowment fund, created in memory of Emmanuèle Bernheim.

In 2025, she published her latest novel, Toutes les vies de Théo, which was awarded the Prix Transfuge du roman français.