Paul Fournel

Paul Fournel was born in 1947. He worked as a publisher with Ramsay & Seghers, and chaired the Société des gens de lettres. He was head of the Alliance Française in San Francisco, and a cultural attaché in Cairo and London. He now writes full time and cycles during the rest of the day. As a third full-time job, he is the Provisionally Definitive Secretary and President of the literary collective known as Oulipo, whose members have included George Perec and Italo Calvino among many others. He is also the author of numerous novels, short stories, plays, memoirs, and poetry. 
Translated from the French by David Bellos.