Alphonse Boudard (17 December 1925 – 14 January 2000) was a French novelist and playwright. He won the 1977

Prix Renaudot The Prix Théophraste-Renaudot or () is a French literary award. History The prize was created in 1926 by ten art critics awaiting the results of deliberation of the jury of the Prix Goncourt. While not officially related to the Prix Goncour ...

for ''Les Combattants du petit bonheur''. Boudard's 1995 novel ''Dying childhood '' was awarded and recognised by the

French Academy French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

with a

Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française The is a French literary award, created in 1914, and given each year by the Académie Française. Along with the Prix Goncourt The Prix Goncourt ( , "The Goncourt Prize") is a prize in French literature, given by the académie Goncourt to the ...

Biography

Boudard was born on 17 December 1925 in the

13th arrondissement of Paris The 13th arrondissement of Paris (''XIIIe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 Arrondissements of Paris, arrondissements of Paris. In spoken French, the arrondissement is referred to as ''le treizième'' ("the thirteenth"). The arrondissement is ...

to a 17-year-old mother. He was brought up first by an adoptive family in the

Loiret Loiret (; ) is a department in the Centre-Val de Loire region of north-central France. It takes its name from the river Loiret, which is contained wholly within the department. In 2019, Loiret had a population of 680,434.

region of the centre of France, then by his grandmother in the south of Paris. Boudard had a late career. As a teenager, he was living in a country occupied by the German Army. He was wounded fighting for the French and he was awarded a military medal. His early adult life was spent in casual work, periods in jail and in a sanatorium recovering from

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

. He experimented with writing, but it was not until he was 33 that he decided to be a full-time writer. He credited the writer Albert Paraz with inspiring this move. His novels are characterised by the colloquial terms and slang that Boudard used to describe life in the 1940s. His works are autobiographical and he used his periods in a sanatorium and in jail as a basis for his stories. His 1963 novel ''The Cherry'' and his 1972 story ''The Hospital'' are examples, as is his 1992 novel ''The Amazing Mr Joseph'' which tells the story of a French spy who becomes a millionaire dealing on the

black market A black market is a Secrecy, clandestine Market (economics), market or series of transactions that has some aspect of illegality, or is not compliant with an institutional set of rules. If the rule defines the set of goods and services who ...

during World War II (based on the real career of

Joseph Joanovici Joseph Joanovici (also Ioinovici or Joinovici, 1905 –1965) was a Russian-born Romanian-French scrap metal merchant who supplied Nazi Germany and funded the French Resistance with the proceeds during the German occupation of France in World War ...

). Many of Boudard novels were adapted for French films and television. Boudard had a wife and two sons. He died in

Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one millionBiographie d'Alphonse Boudard

Les gens du cinéma
* André Nolat, ''Romances de la rue'' (« Notes sur Mac Orlan, Carco, Simonin, Boudard »), Lyon, éd. Baudelaire, septembre 2009

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boudard, Alphonse Writers from Paris 1925 births 2000 deaths French male screenwriters 20th-century French screenwriters Prix Renaudot winners French Resistance members Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française winners 20th-century French novelists 20th-century French male writers French male novelists Burials at Montparnasse Cemetery