Georges Nigremont (1885–1971)

Georges Nigremont was the pen name of Léa Védrine, born in La Villeneuve, in the Creuse in central France. She attended the Guéret Normal School, from which she obtained a teaching certificate at age 18 in 1903. In 1910, at age 25, she married Fernand Pelletier. She taught in Saint Quentin la Chabanne, Châtelus-Malvaleix, and Chartres. Later she became an inspector of nursery schools in Nancy, then in Paris, where she lived during World War II.

Léa borrowed her nom de plume from Saint-Georges-Nigremont, the hometown of her grandfather, a mason, and her father, also a teacher. She wrote articles for newspapers for many years before publishing the first of her numerous writings for young people, Jeantou, le masçon croisois (1936), which won the Prix Jeunesse in 1937.

She also published Contes et Légendes de l'Auvergne, de la Marche et du Limousin (1940) and other regional studies, and books for adults.

In 1951, she won the Gabriel Nigond Prize for her novel La Bru. She died in her home village of Villeneuve.