20th-century French non-fiction writers

Jean-Henri Casimir Fabre (21 December 1823 – 11 October 1915) was a French naturalist, entomologist, and author known for the lively style of his popular books on the lives of insects.

Roland Gérard Barthes (; French: [ʁɔlɑ̃ baʁt]; 12 November 1915 – 26 March 1980) was a French literary theorist, essayist, philosopher, critic, and semiotician. His work engaged in the analysis of a variety of sign systems, mainly derived from Western popular culture. His ideas explored a diverse range of fields and influenced the development of many schools of theory, including structuralism, anthropology, literary theory, and post-structuralism.
Barthes is perhaps best known for his 1957 essay collection Mythologies, which contained reflections on popular culture, and the 1967/1968 essay "The Death of the Author," which critiqued traditional approaches in literary criticism. During his academic career he was primarily associated with the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) and the Collège de France.

Serge Fuster (pen name "Casamayor"; 28 November 1911 in Algiers, French Algeria – 29 October 1988 in Paris ) was a French judge and writer. He wrote over twenty books, primarily essays on justice.
During World War II, in 1940, Fuster was a lieutenant in Sedan. When the war ended, Fuster participated in the Nuremberg Trials, as part of the French delegation, led by Edgar Faure and François de Menthon.
Beginning in the 1950s Fuster began writing for the journal Esprit under the nom-de-plume of "Casamayor", a name he would use for the next thirty years.
Fuster ended his judicial career as President of the Chamber at the Court of Appeal of Versailles. Upon his death, he was given many tributes, including ones by President François Mitterrand, Prime Minister Michel Rocard, and Justice Pierre Arpaillange.

Marcel Jacques Amand Romain Boulenger (Paris, 9 September 1873 – Chantilly, Oise, 21 May 1932) was a French novelist and fiction writer. He was awarded the Prix Nee of the Académie Française in 1918 and the Prix Stendhal in 1919. He was also a fencer of international standard, competing in the late 19th century and early 20th centuries.

Bertrand Goldschmidt (2 November 1912 – 11 June 2002) was a French chemist. He is considered one of the fathers of the French atomic bomb, which was tested for the first time in 1960 in the nuclear test Gerboise Bleue.

Caroline Loeb (born 5 October 1955) is a French actress, radio host, singer, and director. In 1986, she co-wrote and recorded the hit single "C'est la ouate".

Raoul Ponchon (born 30 December 1848 in La Roche-sur-Yon, France, died 3 December 1937 in Paris, France) was a French poet. A friend of Arthur Rimbaud, he was one of only "seven known recipients" of the first edition of A Season in Hell.
He was a contributor to the satirical weekly Le Courrier français.

Henri Tisot (1 June 1937 – 6 August 2011) was a French actor, writer, and humorist. He was best known for playing Adolf Hitler in the farcical film The Fuhrer Runs Amok, for his parodies of the speeches of General Charles de Gaulle, and for the television series La trilogie marseillaise.Henri Tisot was born in La Seyne-sur-Mer. He died at the age of 74 in Sanary-sur-Mer, Var, France.

Philippe Labarthe, pseudonym Ylipe (9 January 1936 – 8 March 2003) was a French humorist, artist, and writer.He was born in Bordeaux and studied Fine Arts there before moving to Paris to work as a cartoonist, painter and aphorist. He signed his cartoons φlipe, using the Greek letter phi (φ) in place of the first three letters of his forename. Maurice Nadeau misread the Greek φ as a Latin y and the name Ylipe stuck.In the 1960s he contributed to Arts, L'Express, and Lettres nouvelles, and signed the Manifesto of the 121 opposing the use of torture during the Algerian War. He later exhibited paintings in New York and Paris under his own name, with backing from Eugène Ionesco and Jacques Prévert.In 2000, a back injury prevented him painting and he returned to writing aphorisms. His writing and painting often exhibit black humour; Dominique Noguez described him as a "sparkling misanthrope" (French: misanthrope étincelant). He died of lung cancer, having refused medical treatment.

Pierre Véry (17 November 1900 in Bellon, Charente – 12 October 1960 in Paris) was a French novelist and screenwriter.