Benoîte Groult

Benoîte Groult ( January 31, 1920, in Paris, June 20, 2016 in Hyeres) is a French journalist, writer and feminist activist.

Benoîte Groult, the daughter of André Groult and Nicole Poiret, sister of Paul Poiret and herself a fashion designer, was raised in the Parisian upper class. After her studies in literature ended in 1953, she worked as a journalist for television. Before publishing her own book in 1972, she co-wrote three books with her younger sister Flora.

Because Benoîte Groult is a feminist, her novels often deal with topics such as the history of feminism, the discrimination of women and misogyny.

Her novel Les vaisseaux du cœur was filmed by Andrew Birkin in 1992 as Salt on Our Skin.

Benoîte Groult has been married four times. Her first husband, Blaise Landon, whom she married in 1943, died the following year. In 1945, she married medical student Pierre Heuyer, who died soon afterward. In 1951, she married journalist Georges de Caunes with whom she had two daughters, Blandine and Lison. She later married the writer Paul Guimard (1921–2004). The couple had one daughter, Constance.

In April 2010, she became Commander of the Légion d'honneur.

In popular culture

Benoîte Groult was the subject of several documentary films. Anne Lefant devoted the documentary Une chambre à elle: Benoîte Groult ou comment la liberté vint aux femmes to Groult, who was 86 years old at the time. It includes testimonies of Josyane Savigneau, Paul Guimard and Yvette Roudy and was published in 2006 by Hors Champ Productions. In 2008 the documentary Benoîte Groult, le temps d'apprendre à vivre, written by Martie Mitterand and directed by Jean-Baptiste Martin, aired on France 5 as a part of the series Empreintes.

In 2013 Grasset published a graphic novel based on the life of Benoîte Groult, called Ainsi soit Benoîte Groult, by the hand of Catel.

Published books

• 1962: Journal à quatre mains, novel with her sister Flora Groult
• 1965: Le féminin pluriel, novel with her sister Flora Groult
• 1967: Il était deux fois, novel with her sister Flora Groult
• 1972: La part des choses, novel
• 1975: Ainsi soit-elle, essay on the social status of women (sound recording in 2004)
• 1977: Le féminisme au masculin, essay on feminism
• 1981: La moitié de la terre, essay
• 1983: Les trois quarts du temps, novel
• 1986: Olympe de Gouges, text submitted by Benoîte Groult
• 1988: Les vaisseaux du cœur
• 1991: Pauline Roland ou Comment la liberté vint aux femmes
• 2006: La touche étoile