For Ariane Singer, it's a source of a regret: standing out from the crowd is not easy for a young journalist. In these days of the "headlong rush for information", producing an "in-depth" report feels like a luxury that's reserved for a few seasoned professionals. That's why, she concludes, she wanted to try for the talent grant from the Jean-Luc Lagardère Foundation, "the only one that really gives young journalists who don't have a qualification from a French school of journalism a chance."

In fact, Ariane received a Master's degree in journalism from New York University, though not before she had studied at the Institute of Political Studies in Paris and earned a Master's in French Language and Literature. After she had completed her internships at LCI, Les Echos and Le Monde, freelance work for Le Point, Entreprendre, Le Nouvel Economiste and Le Figaroscope, developed society and culture magazine programmes in Spanish for Radio France Internationale, and worked as the United States correspondent for Ouest France, Ariane worked as a freelance journalist for a number of French publications, including Le Nouvel Observateur, Libération, Ouest France and Femme. One subject has long been close to her heart. She had already had the opportunity to explore this subject whilst studying in the United States and she now wants to further her studies in other countries: the "rebirth of Yiddish culture".

With the success of traditional music (Klezmer), literature, language classes, the revival of university studies and an increasing number of websites, Yiddish language and culture, which had been heading for extinction since the Holocaust, seems to have been enjoying a remarkable rebirth in the last few years outside Hasidic and ultra-Orthodox Jewish circles.  Although this revival seems to be linked to the determination of some quite extraordinary people, Ariane nonetheless wonders what its future holds: against the background of the Jewish Diaspora, how can these passionate heirs hope to bring Yiddish out of its small circle of initiates and those who are simply nostalgic, and what's more, how can it be revived as a spoken language?  The special prize awarded by the Jean-Luc Lagardère Foundation should allow her, as she wants, to "take the time to look more closely" at this question.

Achievements since winning the grant
Ariane is a regular contributor to Le Point and reports for Le Monde 2, after having worked as the United States correspondent for Ouest France.