Agnès Poirier

Biography

Agnès Poirier is a French-born writer, journalist and broadcaster based between Paris and London. For more than twenty-five years, she has worked as a foreign correspondent, writing and commenting on British politics, culture and society for media including Le Monde, Le Figaro, Libération and France 24, and on French politics, culture and society for, among others, The Guardian, The Observer, The Times and The New York Times. She is also a regular broadcaster on the BBC, Channel 4, Sky News and CNN, and has presented documentaries for the BBC. She is currently UK Editor of the French weekly L’Express.

She is the author of seven books in French and English, including Left Bank: Arts, Passion and the Rebirth of Paris 1940–1950 (Bloomsbury), which Julian Barnes described in The Guardian as a “rich and funny” group biography about “cold rooms and hot ideas in postwar Paris”. Her subsequent book, Notre-Dame: The Soul of France (Oneworld), begins on the night of the fire, explores the history and enduring cultural significance of the cathedral, and reports on the five years of its reconstruction. Left Bank and Notre-Dame were published in Britain and the US and translated into a dozen languages. Her forthcoming book, Right Bank: Sprinting to Modernity in Paris 1885–1908, will be published by Bloomsbury in 2027.

Agnès studied at the Sorbonne, Sciences Po and the LSE, has taught at Sciences Po and has selected British films for the Cannes Film Festival for the past twenty-five years. Her work combines cultural history, political insight and a deep understanding of the enduring relationship between France and Britain.