Danielle Collobert
Danielle Collobert (23 July 1940 – 23 July 1978) was a French poet, novelist and short-story writer. She became known for experimental prose poetry that is tense, dark and often deals with death, madness and questions about gender.
She was born in Rostrenen, Brittany, France, and grew up mainly with her grandparents because her mother and aunt were in the French Resistance. In 1961 she left university, moved to Paris, worked at Galerie Hautefeuille, and wrote pieces that would later become the book Meurtre (Murder). She also self-published Chants des Guerres, though she later destroyed early editions.
Collobert supported the Algerian FLN and did missions in Algeria. She spent a short exile in Italy in 1962 and then helped with the Algerian magazine Révolution Africaine until it stopped during Ben Bella’s presidency. After being rejected by one publisher, Raymond Queneau helped her, and Gallimard published Meurtre in 1964.
In 1968 she joined the Writers’ Union and spent much of the 1970s traveling, which influenced her writing. In 1978 her last work Survie (Survival) appeared in Italian translation; she died by suicide a few months later in a hotel in Paris.
Collobert’s writing is known for its haunting, stark style and its use of prose poetry. It explores death, the body, madness and the complexity of gender. Her book Meurtre (Murder) has been translated into English and was shortlisted for a notable translation prize in 2014.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 13:26 (CET).