Eric Ollivier

Éric Ollivier, the pen name of Yves Duparc (21 November 1926 – 30 January 2015), was a French writer, screenwriter and journalist who received multiple French literary awards.

His mother, Theresa Marie Ourvouai, was of Irish descent; his father, Arthur Victor Marie Duparc, worked as a sailor and poet. Orphaned at eight, he was sent from Brittany to Paris at the end of 1940 by relatives. He attended Lycée Henri‑IV and participated in scouting. After failing his baccalauréat exams, he enrolled at the Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales, where he contributed to an Amharic dictionary. Jean Cocteau, to whom he wrote, gave him a small role in the 1948 film Ruy Blas, starring Jean Marais.

From October 1946 until spring 1948, Ollivier served as secretary to writer François Mauriac before being called up for military service. He began working as a journalist for Le Figaro in 1949, reporting from Libya, Tunisia and Morocco, and later acted as war correspondent in Indochina, senior reporter in India and Africa, witnessing the independence of Morocco and Tunisia on location.

As a novelist he received the Prix Roger Nimier for *J’ai cru trop longtemps aux vacances* (1967), the Prix Cazes for *Panne sèche* (1976), the Prix Interallié for *L’Orphelin de mer… ou les Mémoires de monsieur Non* (1982), the Prix Sainte‑Beuve for *Les livres dans la peau* (1987) and the Prix Charles Oulmont for *Lettre à mon genou* (1993). He authored around thirty books, produced television programmes and wrote scenarios and dialogue for cinema.

The Académie française awarded him its Prix Jean Leduc in 1972 for *Églantine* and its Prix d’Académie in 1986 for his entire body of work.

Éric Ollivier died of intestinal cancer on 30 January 2015 in Rueil‑Malmaison.