Pancol, Katherine 1954-

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PANCOL, Katherine 1954-

PERSONAL: Born 1954, in Casablanca, Morocco; immigrated to France, c. 1959; children: Charlotte.

ADDRESSES: Agent—c/o Editions Albin Michel, 22 Rue Huyghens, 75014 Paris, France.

CAREER: Journalist and novelist.

WRITINGS:

Moi d'abord, Editions Points-Seuil (Paris, France), 1979.

Le barbare, Editions Points-Seuil (Paris, France), 1981.

Scarlett, si possible, Editions Points-Seuil (Paris, France), 1985, translation by Suzanne White published as Call Me Scarlett, Bergh Publishing Group (New York, NY), 1986.

Les hommes cruels ne courent pas dans les rues, Editions Points-Seuil (Paris, France), 1990.

Vue de l'exterior, Editions Points-Seuil (Paris, France), 1993.

Une si belle image, Editions Points-Seuil (Paris, France) 1995.

Encore une danse, Editions Fayard (Paris, France), 1998.

J'etais la avant, Editions Albin Michel (Paris, France), 1999.

Et monter lentement dans un immense amour, Editions

Albin Michel (Paris, France), 2001.

SIDELIGHTS: Katherine Pancol was pursuing a career in journalism with Paris Match and Cosmopolitan when Parisian editor Robert Lafont suggested that she try her hand at writing novels. In 1979 she published her first novel, Moi d'bord, which focuses on a modern French woman and reminds readers that the feminist movement of earlier decades is no longer only a specific political movement: its liberating ideas have become an integral part of French culture. The novel was surprisingly successful, and Pancol explained on her Web site that she fled to New York to get over it. However, she continued writing as she lived in New York and was soon being heralded as "the Françoise Sagan of the 1980s."

Scarlett si possible, Pancol's third novel, was published in English as Call Me Scarlett. This "sassy, fast-paced novel," as a reviewer for Publishers Weekly described it, is set in late 1960s Paris. Three girls from rural France have moved to Paris in search of careers and love, although their successes in both fields are mixed. One falls in love with a thief and dreams of going to America. Another sleeps with her editor to ensure her advancement at the newspaper where she works, even though she is in fact in love with another reporter, while the third agrees to become the paid mistress of the owner of the concrete company for which she works after she falls in love with an unemployed actor.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

periodicals

Express International, December 22, 1994, Martine de Rabaudy, interview with Katherine Pancol, p. 65; May 27, 1993, Sophie Grassin, review of Vue de l'exterior, p. 74.

Kirkus Reviews, March 1, 1986, review of Call Me Scarlett, p. 333.

Publishers Weekly, March 28, 1986, review of Call Me Scarlett, p. 48.