Born in 1908 in Algeria and died in 2004 in the Paris region, Robert Merle was a French writer. He taught English in high school and met Jean-Paul Sartre. He was mobilized in 1939, and became a liaison officer with the British forces. He taught again after the war. He is the author of several dozen novels. He received the Jean Giono prize in 2003 for the whole of his work, and the Goncourt prize in 1949 for Un Week end à Zuydcoote.