Cimetière du Père-Lachaise (continued): #12: Yves Berger

'YVES BERGER

ÉCRIVAIN

1931–2004'

The son of a road haulier, Yves Berger (born in Avignon) was greatly influenced by North American writers, particularly Jack London and James Fenimore Cooper. His first novel Le Sud (which won the Prix Femina in 1962) concerned Virginia before the Civil War. He was the literary head of Grasset for forty years until 2000, and encouraged a wider knowledge of French-Canadian writers Marie-Claire Blais and Antonine Maillet.