The Gaze of Medusa

Astrid Haerens, Hélène Frappat & Ayşegül Savaş

A philosophy graduate with a passion for cinema, French writer Hélène Frappat (1969) is a novelist, film critic and translator. She has chosen to seek ‘truth’ in fiction. As a novelist, she is the  published author of Inverno, Lady Hunt, N’oublie pas de respirer, Le Dernier fleuve, Le mont Fuji n’existe pas, Trois femmes disparaissent and Nerona. Having devoted some of her work to filmmakers such as Jacques Rivette, Roberto Rossellini and the actor Toni Servillo, she published Le Gaslighting, ou l’art de faire taire les femmes in 2023.

Astrid Haerens (1989) grew up in Zwevegem and lives in Brussels. She holds a Master’s degree in Linguistics from the Conservatory of Antwerp. She is the author of the novel Stadspanters, the collection of poetry Oerhert, which won the 2023 First Poetry Collection Prize and was nominated for the 2023 Herman de Coninck Prize and the 2023 C. Buddingh’ Prize. Her second novel, Erosie, is due to be published in April 2026. As yet unpublished in French, her work has also appeared in various international literary magazines and on online platforms.

Ayşegül Savaş (1986) grew up in Turkey and Denmark. Her writing has appeared in several prestigious publications including The New Yorker, The Paris Review and The Guardian. She graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in San Francisco. Based in Paris, she is the author of Transparence de la lumière and Anthropologie, which has just been translated into French and featured on Barack Obama’s list of his favourite books upon its release in the United States. The French version also attracted considerable attention during the January literary season.