The Sociéte des gens de lettres de France (SGDLF) (English: Society of Men of Letters of France) is a writers' association founded in 1838 by the notable French authors Honoré de Balzac, Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, and George Sand. It is a private association recognised in France as an establishment in the public interest by decree of December 10, 1891.
It is the only writer-run writers' association in France with the expressed aim of defending the moral rights, the legal interests, and the social and legal status of all writers. It protects, considers, and proposes new rules and arrangements for the benefit of the community of writers. It is directed by a volunteer committee consisting of 24 writers and is presently led by the novelist Alain Absire.
Members of the society must be writers whose work has been published by a publishing house (self-published works do not qualify). The SGDLF offers social and legal assistance to its members. It has facilities for the deposit of completed works, helping writers guarantee their rights as original author in case of a legal dispute. Each year it organises diverse cultural events and awards a number of €75,000 prizes in recognition of published works.
The SGDLF occupies the 18th-century neoclassical Hôtel de Massa in Paris, a building with the strange history of having been moved stone by stone in 1928 from its original site on the Champs-Élysées to its present site in the garden of the Observatoire de Paris, rue de Faubourg-Saint-Jacques, in Paris.
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