Brigitte Smadja

Born in Tunis in 1955 to a Jewish family,^[2] Smadja was eight years old when her family left for France, settling first in Sarcelles and next in Goutte d'Or.^[3] As a child, she dreamed of becoming an airline pilot, but instead pursued literary studies at the École normale supérieure de Fontenay-Saint-Cloud [fr]. She subsequently became a French teacher in a secondary school, a profession she continued alongside her writing career.^[3] She also taught French at the Duperré School of Applied Arts.

Smadja's novels mainly discussed love, friendship, justice, differences, racism, and others.^[4] Occasionally, her novels had autobiographical elements, as seen in Quand papa était mort and Ne touchez pas aux idoles. She wrote around thirty novels for L'École des loisirs [fr] and Actes Sud.^[5] For her works, she received numerous prizes, such as the Prix de l'Été du livre in Metz and the Meilleur livre pour la jeunesse of Haute-Loire.^[5]

Smadja died in Paris on 15 February 2023.^[6]