Olivier Séchan facts for kids

Olivier Séchan (born January 14, 1911 – died July 7, 2006) was a French writer. He was born in Montpellier and passed away in Paris when he was 95 years old. He was the son of Louis Séchan and the brother of Edmond Séchan.

Life and Work of Olivier Séchan

Early Life and First Novels

Olivier Séchan's father, Louis Séchan, was a professor at the famous Sorbonne university. His mother, Isabelle Bost, was the granddaughter of a Protestant pastor. Olivier spent the first twenty years of his life in Montpellier, where he was born.

Later, he moved to Paris. In the 1930s, he taught German. In 1939, he published his first novel, Les eaux mortes. After that, he wrote eight more novels. One of them, Les corps ont soif, won an important award called the Prix des Deux Magots in 1942.

Winning Awards and Humorous Stories

In 1951, Olivier Séchan won another award, the Prix du Roman d'Aventures. He won it for a funny crime novel called Vous qui n'avez jamais été tués. He wrote this book with his friend Igor Maslowski. Many of his novels are set in the Cevennes region of France.

During World War II, he worked for a time at a radio station called Radio Paris.

Writing for Young Readers

Olivier Séchan later became a director at the publishing company Hachette. This is where he started writing books especially for children. These books were published in two very popular series: Bibliothèque rose and Bibliothèque verte.

He created fun, repeating characters named Luc and Martine for his young readers. He also translated many of the Jennings novels by Anthony Buckeridge from English into French. His books for young people became very popular and were loved by many.

Family and Languages

Olivier Séchan was very good at languages. He could speak English, German, and Dutch fluently. He had a wife and six children. Two of his children became well-known: his son Thierry Séchan became a novelist, and his son Renaud Séchan became a very famous singer in France, known simply as Renaud.