Myriam Harry was the pen name of Maria Rosette Shapira (April 1869 – 10 March 1958), a French journalist and writer. The daughter of Moses Wilhelm and Anna Magdalena Rosette Shapira (née Jöckel), she was born in Jerusalem. Her father, originally from Ukraine in Czarist Russia and a convert from Judaism to Christianity, committed suicide and the family moved to Berlin. She later moved to Paris. She became secretary to

Jules Lemaître François Élie Jules Lemaître (27 April 1853 – 4 August 1914) was a French critic and dramatist. Biography Lemaître was born in Vennecy, Loiret. He became a professor at the University of Grenoble in 1883, but was already well known for hi ...

. Shapira worked for ''

La Fronde The Fronde () was a series of civil wars in France between 1648 and 1653, occurring in the midst of the Franco-Spanish War (1635–1659), Franco-Spanish War, which had begun in 1635. King Louis XIV confronted the combined opposition of the pr ...

'' and also wrote several journals in Paris. In 1902, she published her first novel ''Petites Épouses''. Her 1903 work ''La Conquête de Jérusalem'' received the first Prix Femina, which was created in 1904 especially for her, since she was excluded from consideration for the Prix Goncourt because she was a woman. In 1904, Shapira married Emile Perrault. She also wrote accounts of her travels in the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Her reportage of the trial of insurgents accused of murdering French settlers in the

Thala-Kasserine Disturbances The Thala-Kasserine Disturbances were an episode of unrest in April 1906 in western Tunisia, the first violent resistance against authority under the French protectorate since its establishment in 1881. Inspired by an Algerian marabout, insurgents ...

was instrumental in securing clemency for those sentenced to death.Charles-André Julien, « Colons français et Jeunes Tunisiens (1882-1912) », ''Revue française d’histoire d’outre-mer'', vol. 54, , 1967,
/ref> She died in

Neuilly-sur-Seine Neuilly-sur-Seine (; literally 'Neuilly on Seine'), also known simply as Neuilly, is a commune in the department of Hauts-de-Seine in France, just west of Paris. Immediately adjacent to the city, the area is composed of mostly select residentia ...

, France.

Selected works

* ''La Divine chanson'' (1911) * ''La petite fille de Jérusalem'' (1914) * ''Siona chez les Barbares'' (1918) * ''Siona à Paris'' (1919) * ''Le Tendre cantique de Siona'' (1922) * ''Les Amants de Sion'' (1923) * ''La Nuit de Jérusalem'' (1928) * ''La Jérusalem retrouvée'' (1930)

References

Cécile Chombard Gaudin, "L'Orient dévoilé - Sur les traces de Myriam Harry, biographie", Levallois, Editions Turquoise, 2019 1869 births 1958 deaths Israeli emigrants to France 20th-century French novelists 20th-century French women writers 19th-century French Jews French women journalists Prix Femina winners Pseudonymous women writers 20th-century pseudonymous writers {{France-journalist-stub