Jean Genet

Jean Genet was a French novelist, playwright, poet, essayist, and political activist. In his early life he was a vagabond and petty criminal, but he later became a writer and playwright. Genet was in and out of prison through a series of arrests for theft, use of false papers, vagabondage, lewd acts, and other criminal offences that landed him a life sentence. In prison, Genet wrote his first poem, "Le condamné à mort", which he had printed at his own cost, and the novel OUR LADY OF THE FLOWERS (1944).