André Blavier (23 October 1922 – 12 June 2001) was a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct language ...

poet. From 1961 he was a member of the literary group

Oulipo Oulipo (, short for french: Ouvroir de littérature potentielle; roughly translated: ''"workshop of potential literature"'', stylized ''OuLiPo'') is a loose gathering of (mainly) French-speaking writers and mathematicians who seek to create works ...

and served as their foreign correspondent.Elkin, Lauren, & Esposito, Scott (2012).
The End of Oulipo?: An Attempt to Exhaust a Movement
'. John Hunt Publishing. p. 77. . He was born in

Verviers Verviers (; wa, Vervî) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium. The municipality consists of the following districts: Ensival, Heusy, Lambermont, Petit-Rechain, Stembert, and Verviers. It is also ...

into a working-class family. His wife was the collage artist and translator Odette Blavier. Blavier was greatly influenced by the work of

Raymond Queneau Raymond Queneau (; 21 February 1903 – 25 October 1976) was a French novelist, poet, critic, editor and co-founder and president of Oulipo (''Ouvroir de littérature potentielle Oulipo (, short for french: Ouvroir de littérature potentiell ...

, and became a member of Oulipo (the name is a contraction for ''Ouvroir de littérature potentielle'' or "workshop of potential literature"), a group consisting of mostly French-speaking writers and mathematicians who create literary works using

constrained writing Constrained writing is a literary technique in which the writer is bound by some condition that forbids certain things or imposes a pattern. Constraints are very common in poetry, which often requires the writer to use a particular verse form. ...

techniques.

References

Pataphysicians 1922 births 2001 deaths Belgian male poets Belgian poets in French People from Verviers Walloon movement activists Walloon people 20th-century Belgian poets 20th-century Belgian male writers Oulipo members {{Belgium-bio-stub