Éliette Abécassis

Éliette Abécassis (born January 27, 1969) is a French writer of Moroccan-Jewish descent.[1] She is a professor of philosophy at the University of Caen Normandy.

Éliette Abecassis
Éliette Abecassis in 2006
Born	(1969-01-27) 27 January 1969 Strasbourg, France
Occupation	Professor, writer
Language	French
Nationality	French
Alma mater	École Normale Supérieure Lycée Henri-IV
Period	1996–present
Genre	philosophy, history, mystery
Website
eliette-abecassis.com

Abécassis was born in Strasbourg. She grew up in a bourgeois sephardic jewish family. Her father is a theologian and her mother a child psychiatrist. She attended Lycée Henri-IV and École Normale Supérieure, and then went to Harvard University. Her first book, Qumran, was released in 1996 after three years of research, and has been translated into eighteen languages. Her second title, L'Or et la cendre, details the historical and mysterious murder of a Berlin theologian. Murder also figures high in her 1998 work on the philosophical origins of homicide entitled Petite Métaphysique du meurtre. Her next novel, La Répudiée, a finalist for the Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française and for the Prix Fémina, was the inspiration for Israeli-American film director Amos Gitai's film Kadosh.[2] To research this book, Abécassis spent six months in the very orthodox Mea Shearim section of Jerusalem.

Her book Clandestin (2003) was one of twelve books chosen for the Prix Goncourt.

In 2012, she performed a musical version of Sepharade, after her eponym book, with French baritone David Serero in Paris.[3]

A movie was made inspired by her book Un heureux événement.