Overview

• Florence Delay died in Paris on July 1 at age 84, the Académie française announced alongside expressions of deep sorrow from its members.
• Jean-René Etchegaray, mayor of Bayonne, honored her as a “Bayonnaise d’âme et d’esprit” and praised her “art de la joie” and “convivialité.”
• She was elected in December 2000 as the fourth woman and one of only five female members of the Académie française.
• An agrégée in Spanish, Delay taught general and comparative literature at the Sorbonne Nouvelle, shaping scholarship on French and Spanish letters.
• Her achievements spanned winning the Prix Femina, Prix François Mauriac and Grand Prix du roman de la Ville de Paris, translating major Spanish writers and starring in Robert Bresson’s 1962 film Le procès de Jeanne d’Arc.