Author.  She was one of the few 20th Century French novelists to identify with nature.  Her mother taught her to love every plant and animal,  and she expressed this feeling in her writing.  Colette’s style is earthy and sensual.  She was particularly sensitive portraying women in love or suffering from jealousy;  at other times she could be wry and ironic,  especially when noting the pleasures and pitfalls of Paris society.  Her mature novels include “The Vagabond” (1910),  “Mitsou” (1919),  “Cheri” (1920),  “The Ripening” (1923),  “The End of Cheri” (1926),  “Sido” (1929),  “The Cat” (1933),  and “Gigi” (1945).  She also wrote three volumes of memoirs,  “My Mother’s House” (1922),  “The Evening Star” (1946),  and “The Blue Lantern” (1953),  and the libretto for Maurice Ravel’s opera “The Child and the Sorcerers” (1925).  “Gigi” was made into an Oscar-winning Hollywood musical in 1958.  Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette was born in St. Sauveue-en-Puisaye,  near Auxerre,  France.  From 1893 to 1906 she was married to the critic Henri Gauthier-Villars,  who encouraged her to write and then took credit for the results.  Colette’s first novels,  the popular “Claudine” series (“Claudine at School”,  1900,  “Claudine in Paris”,  1901,  “Claudine Married”,  1902,  and “The Innocent Wife”,  1904),  were all signed “Willy”,  her husband’s pen name.  After their divorce Colette pursued an unconventional lifestyle,  becoming a music hall performer,  dressing in men’s clothes,  and entering into what was probably a lesbian relationship with the Marquise de Belbeuf.  She later remarried twice and had a daughter.  During her last years she was bedridden by arthritis.  In 1953 Colette was named a Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor,  and she was the first French woman to be given a state funeral.  Her “Collected Stories” were published in 1983. (bio by: Bobb Edwards)  Family links:  Spouses:  Henry Gauthier-Villars (1859 – 1931)*  Mathilde De Morny (1863 – 1944)*  Children:  Colette De Jouvenel (1913 – 1981)* *Calculated relationship