Report from French writer (8)
I believe the answer is:
describe
'report' is the definition.
(I know that report can be written as describe)
'from french writer' is the wordplay.
'from french' becomes 'de' ('from' in French).
'writer' becomes 'scribe' (scribe is a kind of writer).
'de'+'scribe'='DESCRIBE'
(Other definitions for describe that I've seen before include "Represent in words" , "Delineate" , "Outline" , "Illustrate" , "Provide image" .)