François Cheng

François Cheng (, born 30 August 1929) is a Chinese-born French academician, writer, poet and calligrapher. He is the author of essays, novels, collections of poetry and books on art written in the French language, and the translator of some of the great French poets into Chinese.
Born in Nanchang, Jiangxi, China. He became a French citizen in 1973. He was elected to the Académie française in 2002, and was the first person of Asian origin to be a member of the Academy. He was the winner of the 1998 Prix Femina for "Le Dit de Tianyi" ("The Tale of Tianyi") (pub. Albin Michel, Paris, 1998).