Loup Durand
Writing
Biography
Loup Durand (1933-1995) was a French crime writer. He was born in Flassans-sur-Issole and studied in Marseille, Aix-en-Provence, London and New York. He worked in a variety of professions such as barman, docker, flight attendant, interpreter, and journalist. He began his career as a professional writer at the age of forty-three. He wrote numerous thrillers, some under pseudonyms such as "H. L. Dugall" and "Michaël Borgia", the latter used with Pierre Rey. He won several prizes for his work: 1967 Prix du Quai des Orfèvres for La Porte d'or (written under the pen name HL Dugall); 1976 Prix du roman d'aventures for Un amour d'araignée; 1987 Prix Maison de la Presse for Daddy. Daddy was translated into English by J. Maxwell Brownjohn. It was made into a bande dessinee illustrated by Rene Follet, and a movie in 2003, featuring Klaus Maria Brandauer. Durand also wrote scripts, e.g. for the Alain Delon thriller Dancing Machine and for the 1982 TV series The Tiger Brigades. Source: Article "Loup Durand" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Known For
Apostrophes was a live, weekly, literary, prime-time, talk show on French television created and hosted by Bernard Pivot. It ran for fifteen years (724 episodes) from January 10, 1975, to June 22, 1990, and was one of the most watched shows on French television (around 6 million regular viewers). It was broadcast on Friday nights on the channel France 2 (which was called "Antenne 2" from 1975 to 1992). The hourlong show was devoted to books, authors and literature. The format varied between one-on-one interviews with a single author and open discussions between four or five authors.
Apostrophes
Hoping to entrap Maria von Gall, who runs a courageous underground railroad for Jews in France, the Nazis kidnap her son Thomas, a brilliant 11-year-old chess master. An exchange arrangement goes awry and he sees her die in a hail of bullets; but he is rescued by his American father, whom he has never met before, and who plans to flee with him to Spain. However, Queen Maria had solemnly entrusted her little pawn Thomas with a precious secret and a terrifying mission, and it was time for him to move. A pawn may become an important piece by slowly, quietly advancing all the way through the enemy's ranks. Or a pawn may die trying. Retreat is what a pawn can never do.
Entrusted
Students of the prestigious dance school are dying under mysterious circumstances. Inspector Michel Eparvier suggests that the cause of death for women is physical exhaustion for dance lessons as their teacher Wolf brings the girls to exhaustion, making them to practice the technique of movement over and over again.
Dancing Machine
An Australian woman searches for her soldier brother in Cambodia during the civil breakdown from which Pol Pot would emerge.