Eminent French writer Troyat dies

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The death has been announced in Paris of one of the greatest figures in modern French literature, the writer Henri Troyat, at the age of 95.

He was the author of more than 100 works of fiction, history and biography - the most recent published a year ago.

Mr Troyat was born into an Armenian family in Moscow, but his businessman father fled the Russian revolution, and the family eventually settled in Paris.

He wrote in French but many of his works dealt with Russian subjects.

He won his first literary award at the age of 24, le prix du roman populaire. At the age of 27 he was awarded the prestigious Prix Goncourt.

His biographies of writers and monarchs included Anton Chekov, Catherine the Great, Rasputin, Ivan the Terrible and Leo Tolstoy.

At the time of his death, announced in the French newspaper Le Figaro on Monday, he was the dean of the Academie Francaise.