The conference “Biographer of Statesmen: A Conversation with Éric Roussel”, member of the Institut de France (Académie des sciences morales et politiques), was held on Tuesday, 2 December 2025. You can watch the film of the event here.
This event, organised in partnership with the Cercle littéraire de Lausanne, took place on the latter’s premises. The interview was led by Gilles Grin, Director of the Jean Monnet Foundation, and Guillaume Poisson, President of theCercle littéraire. The discussion allowed the audience to discover the working methods, as well as a few anecdotes, of a biographer specialising in statesmen. The evening concluded with questions from the large audience in attendance and an aperitif.
Writer and journalist, Éric Roussel is the author of several acclaimed biographies of major French statesmen of the 20th century : Georges Pompidou, bestseller in 1984; Jean Monnet, Académie française Essay Prize in 1996; Charles de Gaulle, Renaudot Poche Prize in 2020; Pierre Mendès France, Académie française Biography Prize in 2007); François Mitterrand, Montaigne Prize in 2016; and Valéry Giscard d’Estaing in 2018. Several of his works have been translated. Since 2018, Éric Roussel has been a member of the Institut de France.
Watch the conference below:
Explore Éric Roussel’s publications available at the Foundation’s library.
