Candide Candide. Born François-Marie Arouet, Voltaire (1694–1778), by the time of the Lisbon earthquake, was already a well-established author, known for his satirical wit. He had been made a member of the Académie Française in 1746. He was a deist, a strong proponent of religious freedom, and a critic of tyrannical governments. "Candide" became part of his large, diverse body of philosophical, political and artistic works expressing these views. More specifically, it was a model for the eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century novels called the "contes philosophiques". This genre, of which Voltaire was one of the founders, included previous works of his
Fran Hosken (1979), was influential in persuading the international community, including the World Health Organization, to make efforts to end the practice. As a pioneer in speaking out against the practice of Female Genital Mutilation, Ms. Hosken courageously withstood often vicious criticism in defense of the women being subjected to these practices. Fran Hosken Fran P. Hosken (Vienna Austria 1920 – 2 February 2006) was an American writer, feminist, and social activist. She founded the Women's International Network in 1975, and published a quarterly journal on women's health issues that became known, in particular, for its research into female genital mutilation (FGM).