The French are coming!

Novelists
Philippe Vasset
Journalist, Philippe Vasset also studied Geagraphy and Philosophy in Paris and in USA where he worked for an investigation center. His last novel Un livre blanc, was published in 2007.
Books available in English
Africa in Washington (Indigo Publication, 2000), Script Generator (Serpent's Tail, 2004)
Script Generator
ScriptGenerat reads both like a novel and the end of all novels. The book follows the investigation of a geologist as he looks for the missing chapter of a 'How-to' manual that describes how the software ScriptGenerator[copyright][registered][trademark] can automatically generate books and scripts. The chapters of the manual alternate with a page-turning narrative that takes us to the depths of African mines and Swiss ski resorts.
Inclsive and well versed in the art of marketing speak, ScriptGeneratoris a brilliant novel about creativity and individuality in the computer era.

Laurent Mauvignier
Laurent Mauvignier was born in Tours in 1967 where he studied Fine Arts and then Literature. Since 1997 he dedicates himself to writing.
In the Crowd (Faber and Faber, 2008)
May 1985, Jeff and Tonino, two Parisian football fans with serious drinking habits, are on their way to the European Cup final between Liverpool and Juventus, at the Heysel Stadium in Brussels. So too are Tana and Francesco, newlyweds from Genoa; Gabriel and Virginie, a young Belgian couple with troubles of their own; and Liverpool supporter, Geoff Andrewson, who is travelling with his two thuggish brothers.
On the eve and day of the game these four groups of characters converge and cross paths, and as the excitement of the build up gives way to horrific tragedy, their lives and relationships are changed forever.
A mesmerising portrait of people attempting to come to terms with a devastating historical event and their role within it, In the Crowd is a hugely compelling and emotive novel.

Olivier Germain Thomas
Olivier Germain-Thomas is a writer, an editor and a radio productor. He studied Literature and Philosophy at the University of La Sorbonne and work for his thesis on the symbolism of Buddhist art in India. He worked for many cultural institutions and created the monthly magazine l’Appel (The Call) in 1973. Since 1997 he’s in charge of the collection “Chemins d’Eternité” (Paths of Eternity) at Flammarion Editions and in 2006 he was awarded the Great Prize of Literature for all his work by the Académie Française.
Bibliography
Le Bénarès Tokyo (Editiosn du Rocher, 2007), En chemin vers le Bouddha (Albin Michel, 2001), Le voyage des Indes (Imprimerie Nationale, 2003), La Tentation des Indes (Albin mIchel, 1993), La mosaïque du feu (Editions du Rocher, 2004), La Traversée de la Chine à la Vitesse du Printemps (Editions du Rocher, 2003)
Le Bénarès Kyoto (Editions du Rocher, 2007)
On this way from Varanasi to Kyoto, the author leads us through a unique adventure, travelling toward East. With philosophy and irony, Olivier Germain Thomas reveals a vision of India between eros and divine, of Thailand as a mysterious woman, of Tonkin as a soldier of Diên Biên Phu and of an unknown China between humour, Tao and Buddha. Japan finally, walking through the montains inhabited by spirits and secret mirrors in the sanctuaries… We came out of this essay with a mind opened by other conceptions of life.


Poetry
Andre Velter
André Velter was born in 1945 and shares his life between his travels to Afghanistan, India, Nepal, Tibet and his comparative studies on poetry all over the world. Poet, he also animated many literary program and wrote some liteary chronicles for the daily newspaper Le Monde mainly abour Orient. He’s also the director of the collection Poésieat Gallimard Edition. All his poetic work is dedicated to breath, to revolt, to wild love and physical and spiritual jublation. Very attached to the orality of poetry, he worked with many comedians and musicians to create intense polyphonies. In 1996 he was awaraded the prestigious Goncourt Prize for Poetry.

Books available in English
Women of Afghanistan (Ruminator Books, 2003), Afghanistan: The Land That Was (Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 2002),
Tant de Soleil dans le sang
Alphabet de l’espace, 2008, written with Ernest Pigon-Ernest, music of Pedro Soler)


Comics

David B.

David B., or Pierre-François Beauchard was born in 1959 in Nimes in the South of France. He’s a graphic novelist and an illustrator for comics. He is one of the representatives of what is called « the new comic book ». Epileptic is one of his famous works.
Books available in English
Epileptic (Jonathan Cape Ltd (23 Mar 2006)), Nocturnal Conspiracies: Nineteen Dreams (NBM (29 Jan 2009),
Epileptic (L’Ascension du Haut Mal)
Epileptic was originally published in six volumes between 1996 and 2004. This complete edition appears in a crisp, vigorous, idiomatic translation by Kim Thompson.
The story is relatively straightforward; its treatment not so. When Beauchard is a nine-year-old child in Orléans, his brother Jean-Christophe, four years his senior, begins to suffer epileptic seizures of devastating frequency and intensity. Soon Jean-Christophe's ailment becomes the dominant fact of family life…
“Epileptic is by no means an easy read in any possible sense. No one is going to use this book as an excuse to avoid dealing with "proper" literature. It is long, and its subject matter is as deep, dark and dense as Beauchard's artwork, which is blocky, high-contrast and reminiscent of woodcut illustrations to the grimmest of Grimm folk-tales. The ultimate justification for Epileptic's existence as a graphic novel is that it is nigh-on impossible to imagine it being anywhere near as effective in any other genre. Whether traditionalists like it or not, the graphic novel is the first-choice mode of expression for many profound sensibilities, seeking to tell tales as rich and complex as can be found in any narrative form”. Charles Shaar Murray