Eugene-Albert Puyon, comte de Pouvourville, known as Albert Pouvourville or under his pen name Matgioi or Mat-Gioi -- probably from Vietnamese mắt giỏi, "sharp eye" (7 Aug. 1862, Nancy, France - 30 Dec. 1939, Paris) was a French orientalist, army officer and Foreign Legion soldier, Indigenous Civil… Read more

Gustave Coquiot (24 Sept 1865, Puits, France – 6 June 1926, Paris) was a French art critic, writer and dramaturgist who befriended major artists of his time, including Auguste Rodin -- to whom he served as private secretary --, Pablo Picasso, Paul Matisse. Toulouse-Lautrec, Pierre Bonnard, Paul… Read more

Thierry Bayle (b. 27 Feb. 1959, Paris) is a French former journalist, a writer, teacher, and currently cultural attaché at the French Embassy in Thailand since 2020..In addition to various publications in French print and audio media (Libération, France Culture, Globe-Hebdo, Lire, Créations,… Read more

Robert Chauvelot (  was a French colonial administrator, novelist and travel writer who visited Cambodia and Angkor around 1924, part of an extended trip across the Far East.A member of the Conseil supérieur des Colonies (Grand Council of the Colonies), a professor at Paris College des sciences… Read more

Yuthlert Sippapak ยุทธเลิศ สิปปภาค  (b.. 8 Nov. 1966, Loei, Thailand) is a Thai film director, screenwriter and producer, best known for genre-blending films Killer Tattoo (comedy and action) and Buppah Rahtree (comedy and horror).After studying fine arts and interior design at Silpakorn… Read more

Dr Wanrug Suwanwattana is a Lecturer in French Language and Literature at the Faculty of Liberal Arts, Thammasat University, Bangkok, Thailand, after completing her PhD at the University of Oxford (Merton College). She is working on fin-de-siècle French literature and Indochina, focusing on… Read more

Martin Hürlimann (12 November 1897, Zürich, Switzerland - 4 March 1984, Zürich), was a Swiss publisher, musicologits and self-taught photographer who visited extensively Asia in the 1920s and 1930s, including Cambodia.In 1929, he founded the magazine Atlantis in Berlin, specializing in countries,… Read more

Louis Gascuel (23 Dec. 1865, Alès, France - 12 March 1939, Alès, France) was a mining civil engineer and alumni of École Polytechnique (year group 1885) who visited Cambodia in 1905, on his way to the Hin Boun (Hinboun) tin mines in central Laos, close to the Thai border.From 1896 to 1923, he… Read more

Pierre-Médard Diard (19 March 1794, Saint-Laurent-en-Gâtines - 16 Feb 1863, Sumatra or Jakarta, Indonesia) was a French naturalist and explorer who studied zoology and anatomy under Georges Cuvier (1769-1832), and traveled to the East Indies in 1817, age 23, spending most of his natural life in… Read more

Phuoeng Sophean ភឿង សុភ័ណ្ឌ (23 April 1958, Siem Reap - 6 Oct. 2020, Phnom Penh) was a Cambodian architect and statesman who initiated the restoration of the Iron Palace at the Phnom Penh Royal Palace in 1991. A son of a renowned Siem Reap architect, he developed a special interest in architectural… Read more

Steve McCurry (b. 1950, Philadelphia, USA) is a professional photographer whose work in rebel-controlled areas of Afghanistan prior to and after the 1979 Russian invasion -- including the iconic "Sharbat Gula, Afghan Girl"(1984), which was a National Geographic cover photo --, and again after the… Read more

Lucretia Stewart (1952, Singapore) is a journalist and travel writer who visited Cambodia in 1990.After spending much of her early life in Singapore and China as the daughter of a diplomat, she started writing for the New Review, Brides magazine, the Evening Standard, Harpers & Queen, and… Read more

Luciano Perez-Rivera Santiago (21 June 1942 – 1 Feb 2019) was a Filipino writer, historian, and psychiatrist known for his books and articles on Philippine history and the arts.An alumnus of the University of the Philippines College of Medicine in Manila, he trained at the Sheppard and Enoch Pratt… Read more

L. Charles was a "capitaine au long cours" [master mariner] of the French Merchant Navy and a corresponding member of Société de Géographie commerciale de Bordeaux, created in 1874, who visited Cambodia and the court of King Norodom I as early as 1870. In addition of his account of Cambodia, we… Read more

Dr. Philippe Hahn, known as 'Docteur Hahn' (19 Aug 1850, Strasbourg-Neuhof - 23 March 1913, Paris, France) was a French physician and administrator, the personal physician of Kings Norodom and Sisowath, and a keen observer of the Cambodian scene from 1878 to 1907.Arriving in Cambodia on 1 January… Read more

Philip J. Coggan is an Australian independent researcher and journalist based in Cambodia who published two books about the Kingdom:  Spirit Worlds: Cambodia, the Buddha & the Naga (2016), and An Illustrated History of Cambodia (2019). A contributor to the Mekong Review and other Southeast… Read more

Joseph Athanase Doumer, known as Paul Doumer (22 March 1857, Aurillac, France – 7 May 1932, Hotel Salomon de Rotschild, Paris), was Governor-General of French Indochina from 13 Feb 1897 to 14 April 1902, and President of France from June 1931 until his assassination in May 1932 at a book fair where… Read more

HH Prince Sisowath Ravivaddhana Monipong (15 Feb. 1970, Phnom Penh) is a researcher in history and culture of Southeast Asia, an author of books and articles on the social and traditional structure of the Cambodian society and the genealogy of the Khmer Royal Family, an artistic consultant for… Read more

Paul Fuchs (1936-19 Dec 2023, Pezenas, France) was a French agricultural engineer and a journalist who served as HM King Norodom Sihanouk's press attaché in the 1960s, and contributed to Agence Khmere de Presse (AKP).He researchedd and covered numerous royal ceremonies and popular festivals in… Read more

Magdeleine de Chasseloup-Laubat, Princesse Achille Murat (2 July 1901, Paris - 8 May 1945, Paris, France) was a French travel writer and socialite who visited Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam in the 1920s, and wrote the chapter 'Tourisme' in the monumental Un empire colonial francais: l'Indochine (ed.… Read more