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Henri Troyat, one of the great figures of modern French literature and one of France's most popular biographers, has died at the age of 95.
Troyat, author of more than 100 works, mainly novels and biographies, was the dean of the august Academie Francaise and won France's top literary award, the Prix Goncourt, almost 70 years ago in 1938.
He was born in Moscow on November 1, 1911, as Lev Tarasov, the son of a prosperous businessman, but grew up in France after his family fled Russia during the revolution.
His biographies, including lives of Tolstoy, Catherine the Great and Chekhov, had huge success and were widely translated.
