Bernard Ollivier (born 1938) is a French journalist and writer, known in particular for his travel stories and as founder of the Seuil Association, a non-profit organization based in France, which seeks to reintegrate young people through walking.

Life

Born in

Manche Manche (, ; Norman language, Norman: ) is a coastal Departments of France, French ''département'' in Normandy (administrative region), Normandy on the English Channel, which is known as , literally "the sleeve", in French. Manche is bordered by ...

, Ollivier led a career as a political and economic journalist. Upon retirement, he fell into a deep depression. Hoping to shake himself out of it, he decided to walk the Way of St James, from Paris to

Santiago de Compostela Santiago de Compostela, simply Santiago, or Compostela, in the province of Province of A Coruña, A Coruña, is the capital of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia, in northwestern Spain. The city ...

, Spain. The experience of walking transformed him. By the end of the journey, realizing he wanted to continue walking, he had decided to embark on a long 12,000 km walk from Istanbul, Turkey, to

Xi'an, China Xi'an is the list of capitals in China, capital of the Chinese province of Shaanxi. A sub-provincial city on the Guanzhong plain, the city is the third-most populous city in Western China after Chongqing and Chengdu, as well as the most populou ...

, along the Great

Silk Road The Silk Road was a network of Asian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century. Spanning over , it played a central role in facilitating economic, cultural, political, and religious interactions between the ...

. He completed the journey in four separate trips and published the tale in three volumes, the "''Longue marche''" series. The travel trilogy has been extremely popular in France and has been translated into several other languages, including English. Although he has also published short stories including a collection on the

homeless Homelessness, also known as houselessness or being unhoused or unsheltered, is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and functional housing. It includes living on the streets, moving between temporary accommodation with family or friends, liv ...

, several longer works of fiction, his best-known works focus on travel. The success of the first volume of ''Longue marche'' (''Traverse l'Anatolie'') enabled him to found the Seuil Association, the goal of which is the reintegration of troubled young people into society by taking long, cellphoneless and chaperoned walks in foreign countries. After meeting Bénédicte Flatet on a canoe trip down the Loire River, he embarked with her on a walk across Europe, from Lyon, France, to Istanbul, Turkey, completing, in a sense, his Silk Road journey at 75 years of age. The pair recount their adventures in an unanticipated fourth volume to the ''Longue marche'' series, ''Suite et fin'', published in 2016. In 2019, Ollivier founded an environmental organization—Air.e—in collaboration with Bénédicte Flatet. Air.e's objectives include promoting awareness of the climate crisis and establishing self-sustaining villages. To this end, the association has organized two "''Marches pour demain''" (Walks for Tomorrow) in Brittany, France, the first in 2021 and the second scheduled for July 2022.

Publications in French

* ''Longue marche: à pied de la Méditerranée jusqu'en Chine par la route de la soie'', Phébus, 4 volumes, volume I, ''Traverser l'Anatolie'' (2000); volume II, ''Vers Samarcande'' (2001); volume III, ''Le vent des steppes'' (2003). (

Prix Joseph-Kessel The Prix Joseph Kessel is a prize in French language literature, given to "a book of a high literary value written in French". The jury includes or has included among its members Tahar Ben Jelloun, Jean-Marie Drot, Michèle Kahn, Pierre Haski, Gil ...

2001). Volume IV, ''Longue marche, suite et fin'' (2016). * ''Nouvelles d’en bas'', 2001. Fiction about the homeless in the métro. * ''L’allumette et la bombe'', 2007. An essay on the suburbs after the

2005 French riots The 2005 French riots was a three-week long period of civil disturbances that took place in Paris#Suburbs, the suburbs of Paris and Urban area (France), other French cities in October and November 2005. These riots involved youth in violent attac ...

and description of the methods of his association. * ''Carnets d’une longue marche'', 2005, watercolors by François Dermaut and texts by Bernard Ollivier, revisiting Ollivier's walk along the Silk Road. * ''Aventures en Loire'', Phébus, 2009. A 1000 km trip by foot and canoe along the

Loire River The Loire ( , , ; ; ; ; ) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhône. It rises in the so ...

. * ''La vie commence à 60 ans'', 2012. Life begins at 60: Ollivier's memoirs in a sense, recounting the why and how of his walking adventures and exploring what it means in modern society to "retire." * ''Histoire de Rosa qui tint le monde dans sa main'', 2013. A fictional novel. * ''Sur le chemin des ducs : la Normandie à pied, de Rouen au Mont-Saint-Michel'', 2013. * ''Marche et invente ta vie : adolescents en difficulté, ils se reconstruisent par une marche au long cours'', Arthaud, 2015. The story of the Seuil Association. * ''L'Essence de la Vie : Ils quittent la ville pour vivre de la terre'',''L'Essence de la Vie''
on Babelio Arthaud, 2019. Interviews conducted with city dwellers who have decided to live a more ecological life by moving to the countryside, sometimes taking up farming.

Translations in English

* ''Out of Istanbul'' (2019), Skyhorse Publishing. * ''Walking to Samarkand'' (2020), Skyhorse Publishing. * ''Winds of the Steppe'' (2020), Skyhorse Publishing. * ''Back to Istanbul'' (2023), Skyhorse Publishing. * ''Life Begins at Sixty.'' (In progress).

Bibliography

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ollivier, Bernard 1938 births Living people French travel writers 20th-century French writers 21st-century French journalists 20th-century French journalists Joseph Kessel Prize recipients Writers from Manche