| Birth Name: | François Fertiault |
| Birth Date: | 25 May 1814 |
| Birth Place: | Verdun-sur-le-Doubs, Saône-et-Loire, France |
| Death Place: | France |
| Occupation: | novelist, poet, essayist, and children's literaturist |
| Spouse: | Julie Rodde |
François Fertiault (25 June 1814 - 5 October 1915) was a French novelist, poet, essayist, and writer of children's literature.
Fertiault was born in Verdun-sur-le-Doubs, in département Saône-et-Loire,[1] located in central eastern France. His father was a soldier who combatted under Napoléon[1] and died during the German Campaign of 1813. Thanks to the help provided by his uncle and a clerk, François Fertiault attended a school in Chalon-sur-Saône[1] since 1820, where he graduated Baccalauréat at the age of 20.
During his school years, Fertiault's literary drafts proved to be promising; Fertiault was immediately hired within the editorial board of the newspaper Patriote de Saône-et-Loire and starts working as a literary critic. Then, he settled in Paris, where he worked in the printing house Donbey-Dupré[1] from 8 August 1835. In 1836, he is hired as a secretary in a bank in Bischoffsheim,[1] in département Bas-Rhin, in north-eastern France. He worked there until the French Revolution of 1848.
François Fertiault after married Julie Rodde,[1] supported his wife in his literary works, and published several books with her.[1]
Fertiault and his wife settled in Paris a few years later. There, they work as publishers of the periodical Feuilleton de Paris, and then of the Bulletin de Paris between 1858 and 1864. Besides his author career, Fertiault was also a literary critic until the end of his life, mainly dealing with modern and contemporary literature. Thanks to Alphonse Lemerre, Fertiault joined the Parnassianism move and collaborated to the redaction of the famous anthology Le Parnasse contemporain.[2] Fertiault also corresponded with the Norman poet Alexandre Piédagnel.[2] [3]
Fertiault's wife, Julie, was the daughter of journalist Victor Rodde (1792-1835), he had married her in 1841, and she died in 1900. Their only child died during early childhood. Fertiault retired progressively from his literary career and died in Paris at the age of 101[2] on 5 October 1915.[1]
In Verdun-sur-le-Doubs, Fertiault's natal village, a street is named "François Fertiault".