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Julien Gracq (27 July 1910 – 22 December 2007), born Louis Poirier in Saint-Florent-le-Vieil, in the French département of Maine-et-Loire, was a French writer. He wrote novels, critiques, a play, and poetry. His literary works were noted for their Surrealism.

Gracq first studied in Paris at the Lycée Henri IV, where he earned his baccalauréat. He then entered the École Normale Supérieure in 1930, later studying at the École libre des sciences politiques.

In 1932, he read André Breton's Nadja, which deeply influenced him. His first novel, The Castle of Argol is dedicated to that surrealist writer, to whom he devoted a whole book in 1948.

During the Second World War, he was a prisoner of war in Silesia with other officers of the French Army. One of the friendships he formed there was with author and literary critic Armand Hoog.

In 1950, he published in the review "Empédocle" a fierce attack on contemporary literary culture and literary prizes (La Littérature à l'estomac). When he won the Prix Goncourt for The Opposing Shore (Le Rivage des Syrtes) the following year, he remained consistent with his criticism and refused the prize.

In 1979, he wrote the foreword re-edition of the Journal de l'analogiste (1954) by Suzanne Lilar; he viewed that work as "Une initiation somptueuse à la poésie".

In 1989, Gracq's work was published by the Bibliothèque de la Pléiade. He remained distant from major literary events and faithful to his first publisher, José Corti. Gracq taught history and geography in secondary school (high school) until he retired in 1970.

Gracq lived a quiet life in his native town of Saint-Florent-le-Vieil, on the banks of the Loire River. On 22 December 2007, a couple of days after suffering a dizzy spell, he died at the age of 97 in a hospital in Angers.

This author page uses material from the Wikipedia article "Julien Gracq", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0