{{Short description|French-Vietnamese writer (1929–2003)}}
{{Infobox writer | name = Elula Perrin | image = | birth_date = 1929 | birth_place = Hanoi, French Indochina | death_date = {{death date and age|2003|5|22|1929}} | death_place = Paris, France | occupation = Writer, nightclub owner | language = French | nationality = French | notableworks = ''Les Femmes préfèrent les femmes'' }}
'''Elula Perrin''' (1929 – 22 May 2003) was a French writer and a prominent figure in Paris’s lesbian nightlife scene.
== Biography == Elula Perrin was born in Hanoi, in what was then French Indochina, in 1929. In 1946, at the age of 17, she moved to France.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Élula Perrin |url=https://www.babelio.com/auteur/lula-Perrin/72900 |access-date=2025-06-26 |website=Babelio |language=fr}}</ref> She earned a degree in law, married and moved to Morocco with her husband, where she discovered her homosexuality.<ref>{{Cite web |title=WOMEN PREFER WOMEN: A Sexual Memoir |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/a/elula-perrin/women-prefer-women-a-sexual-memoir/ |access-date=2025-06-26 |website=Kirkus Reviews |language=en}}</ref>
In 1969, together with Aimée Mori, she opened Le Katmandou,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Le Katmandou Opens in Paris |url=http://outhistory.org/items/show/3520 |access-date=2025-06-26 |website=outhistory.org |language=en-US}}</ref> a nightclub that became a focal point of lesbian nightlife in Paris.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/2003/06/02/elula-perrin-fondatrice-du-katmandou-haut-lieu-lesbien_322454_1819218.html|title=Elula Perrin, fondatrice du Katmandou, haut lieu lesbien|publisher=Le Monde|date=2 June 2003|language=fr|access-date=30 July 2020}}</ref> It closed 20 years later, in 1989. She gained public attention in 1977 with her autobiographical book ''Les Femmes préfèrent les femmes'' ("Women Prefer Women") and appeared on television programs to speak openly about her attraction to women.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The State of Lesbian Organising and the Lived Realities of Lesbians in the EU and the Accession Countries |url=https://europeanlesbianconference.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/The-State-of-Lesbian-Organising.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241202110132/https://europeanlesbianconference.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/The-State-of-Lesbian-Organising.pdf |archive-date=2024-12-02}}</ref> She went on to write several more works exploring lesbian themes, among them ''Tant qu'il y aura des femmes'' ("As Long as There Are Women") and ''Mousson de femmes'' ("Monsoon of Women").
In the late 1980s, she opened another nightclub, Le Privilège, located near the Théâtre Le Palace. She also co-wrote two detective novels with author Hélène de Monferrand.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Payne |first=Robert |date=2016-06-15 |title=Lesbianism and Maternal Ambivalence in Hélène de Monferrand’s Les amies d’Héloïse (1990) and Les enfants d’Héloïse (1997) |url=https://journals.openedition.org/fixxion/7626 |journal=Revue critique de fixxion française contemporaine |language=en |issue=12 |doi=10.4000/fixxion.7626 |issn=2033-7019|doi-access=free }}</ref>
In 2000, Catherine Gonnard directed a documentary about her life titled ''Elula, les hommes on s'en fout'' ("Elula, We Don’t Give a Damn About Men").<ref>{{Cite web |title=Elula Perrin - Livres, Biographie, Extraits et Photos {{!}} Booknode |url=https://booknode.com/auteur/elula-perrin |access-date=2025-06-26 |website=booknode.com}}</ref> Perrin died in Paris on 22 May 2003, following a long illness. She was 74 years old.
== Works == * ''Les Femmes préfèrent les femmes'', Ramsay, Paris, 1977; J'ai lu, 1985; Double interligne, Paris, 1997; La Cerisaie, Paris, 2002. * ''Tant qu'il y aura des femmes'', Ramsay, Paris, 1978. * ''Alice au pays des femmes'', Ramsay, Paris, 1980. * ''Mousson de femmes'', Ramsay, Paris, 1985; La Cerisaie, Paris, 2003. (Preface by Josée Dayan) * ''Pour l'amour des femmes'', Ramsay, Paris, 1995. * ''L’Eurasienne'', Editions Osmondes, Paris, 1997. * ''Va y avoir mistral, elles ne sont pas toutes gentilles'', Double interligne, Paris, 1999. * ''Bulles et noctambules: histoire de la nuit au féminin'', Double interligne, Paris, 2000. * ''Révolte des amours mortes (elle préfère toujours les femmes)'', La Cerisaie, Paris, 2003. *''Un amour, deux femmes'', with Louna Borca. La Cerisaie, Paris, 2004.
==References== {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Perrin, Elula}} Category:1929 births Category:2003 deaths Category:French-language literature of Vietnam Category:French people of Vietnamese descent Category:French lesbian writers Category:French LGBTQ rights activists Category:20th-century Vietnamese writers Category:20th-century French women writers Category:20th-century French women Category:Vietnamese lesbians Category:20th-century French LGBTQ people Category:20th-century Vietnamese LGBTQ people Category:French women human rights activists Category:20th-century French writers