Philippe Rahmy (5 June 1965, in

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

– 1 October 2017) was a

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

poet and writer. Rahmy published several collections of poetry and four novels. Rahmy was also a photographer, short film director, songwriter and also a founding member of the literary site ''remue.net.'' Rahmy won numerous awards for his novels ''Béton armé'' ''(Reinforced Concrete)'' and ''Allegra''. Born with brittle bone disease, he was also an active disability activist.

Early life and education

Rahmy was born in Geneva in 1965. He was of Egyptian descent on his father's side. He suffered from

brittle bone disease Osteogenesis imperfecta (; OI), colloquially known as brittle bone disease, is a group of genetic disorders that all result in bones that break easily. The range of symptoms—on the skeleton as well as on the body's other organs—may be ...

and spent much of his childhood in and out of hospital. He attended a Catholic boarding school in Geneva and then studied the history of art and Egyptology at the

École du Louvre The École du Louvre () is a selective institution of higher education and prestigious ''grande école'' located in the Aile de Flore of the Louvre Palace in Paris, France. It is dedicated to the study of archaeology, art history, anthropology ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

before graduating from the

University of Lausanne The University of Lausanne (UNIL; ) in Lausanne, Switzerland, was founded in 1537 as a school of Protestant theology, before being made a university in 1890. The university is the second-oldest in Switzerland, and one of the oldest universities ...

in literature and philosophy.

Career

Rahmy published several collections of poetry before attending a writer's residency in Shanghai. This was followed by his first novel ''Reinforced Concrete'', inspired by his time in Shanghai, a second novel, ''Allegra'', set in London before the Olympic Games, a third novel, ''Monarchs'', published in August 2017. Rahmy was working on his fourth novel, ''Pardon for America'', about prisoners who have been wrongfully convicted when he died. His books have been published in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

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and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. Rahmy was also a founding member of the prominent French literary site
remue.net
', focused on promoting contemporary literature over the internet and through live events. Philippe Rahmy was also active as a photographer and a director of independent short films. He also wrote songs for the rock band ''I Need My Gasoline''. Before his death, he had been working on a literary and multimedia project abou
abandoned cities
ref name=":4" /> The collaborative writing project was to be hosted on D-FICTION before finding a dedicated open website platform gathering a range of tools for geolocation, virtual exploration of the landscape, artistic creation, and communication. The project was later to be expanded to visual arts, music, staged arts and street arts, as well as academic productions. At the time of his death, Rahmy had been working on a fourth novel, ''Pardon pour l'Amérique'' (''Pardon for America)'', about prisoners who have been wrongfully convicted. An previously unpublished essay by Rahmy, titled "Prepositions Démocratiques" (Democratic Propositions), was published shortly after his death.

Awards

Philippe Rahmy was the recipient of multiple literary honours, among them the 2016 Rambert Prize for his second novel, ''Allegra'' and the 2017 Swiss Literature Prize.

Personal life

Philippe Rahmy met his wife Tanja while they were both in graduate school at the

. The couple were married for 18 years. Suffering from osteogenesis imperfecta himself, Rahmy was an active member of several disability-related associations.

Death

Rahmy died on Sunday 1 October 2017. At the time of his death, he had been an authors in residence at the ''Maison de l'écriture'' in

Montricher Montricher is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality of the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud in Switzerland, located in the district of Morges District, Morges. History Montricher is first mentioned in 1049 as ''Mons Richarius''. In ...

Books

* 2017
''Monarques''
éditions de La Table Ronde, coll. Vermillon * 2016
''Allegra''
éditions de La Table Ronde, coll. Vermillon, January 2016 (awarded the Prix Rambert 2016 and the Swiss Literature Award 2017) * 2015
''Béton armé''
Collection Folio (n° 5946), Gallimard, 2015 * 2014 : ''Loop Road'', nerval.fr, March 2014 * 2013 : ''Béton armé – Shanghai au corps à corps'', Éditions de La Table Rond
Editions Table Ronde - Littérature française et étrangère, essais et documents, beaux livres, La Petite Vermillon
preface Jean-Christophe Rufin de l'Académie française, September 2013 (awarded the

Prix Wepler The prix Wepler is a French literary award established in 1998 at the initiative of the Abbesses Bookshop, with the support of the La Poste Foundation, and the Brasserie Wepler ( Place Clichy, 18th arrondissement of Paris) and which distinguishe ...

2013 Mention spéciale du jury // One of the 20 best books of the year 2013, palmarès Lire; Prix Michel-Dentan 2014) * 2013 : ''Corps au miroir'', avec Sabine Oppliger, Encre et lumière, 2013 * 2010 : ''Cheyne, 30 ans, 30 voix'', Livres hors collection, 2010 * 2009 : ''Cellules souches'', avec Stéphane Dussel
Mots tessons
2009 * 2009 : ''Movimento dalla fine'', a cura di Monica Pavani
Mobydick
2009 * 2008 : ''SMS de la cloison''
publie.net
2008 * 2008 : ''Architecture nuit'', texte expérimental, publie.net, 2008 * 2007 : ''Demeure le corps, Chant d'exécration''

2007 * 2005 : ''Mouvement par la fin, Un portrait de la douleur''

2005 (postface

Jacques Dupin Jacques Dupin (4 March 1927, Privas, Ardèche – 27 October 2012, Paris) was a French poet, art critic, and co-founder of the journal '' L'éphemère''. Dupin was born in the town of Privas in the South of France, where his father was a psychia ...

Prix des Charmettes – Jean-Jacques Rousseau
2006)

Articles

''La couleur des jours''
"Pardon pour l'Amérique", 31-08-2017, extract of an ongoing novel, written at the foundation Jan Michalski *
Specimen
The Babel Revue of Translation'', "Pardon pour l'Amérique", fr/eng, transl. by Carla Calimani, 06-2017 *
Viceversa littérature
', nr. 11, "Dialogue avec Philippe Rahmy : l'écriture en acte" by Marina Skalova, followed by "retour architecture nuit" by François Bon, 04-2017
''Diacritik''
"Le roi est vulnérable", 24-02-2017 * Château de Lavigny, 20 ans, anthologie anniversaire, "Le Châtiment", 08-2016

"Todos tenemos alguna discapacidad", 19-04-2016 * La moitié du fourbi, Nr. 3, "Un portrait du Fayoum", 03-2016 * Le Persil, Special edition dedicated to poetry in the francophone part of Switzerland, "Comme le caméléon, sa langue", 03-2016 * Postface to the book "Kvar lo" from Sabine Huynh (poems, with ink paintings from Caroline François-Rubino), Éditions Æncrages & Co, coll. Écri(peind)re, 2016 * Le Magazine Littéraire, Nr. 541, 03–2014, "Alors, Shanghai?" * Le Magazine Littéraire, Nr. 532, 06–2013, "Paul Auster, le grand entretien" * D-Fiction, 05–2013, "Aran" * Art+Politique, 2012, "Du partage des richesses" * Lieux d'Être, N°51, printemps 2011, "Il ne suffit pas de bégayer" * Viceversa Littérature, N°5 (2011), "Château Solitude" * La Revue de Belles-Lettres, 134e année, numéro 1–2 2010, "Un terrain parmi d'autres" * Antilipseis Magazine, mars 2011, in: "Perceptions" * The Black Herald Press, 1st issue, January 2011,Archived a
Ghostarchive
and th
Wayback Machine
* revue China Dolls, Beijing, été 2010, "The Glory of the body", * revue Hétérographe N°4, automne 2010, Sandra Moussempès, Photogénie des ombres peintes * revue fario, May/June 2009, " La vie sauve " * revue Faire Part, " Caroline Sagot Duvauroux, Vol-ce-l'est, l'autre chose ", avril 2009 * participation au catalogue d'exposition du peintre Winfried Veit, avril 2009 * revue Viola, " Solitudine publica ", mars 2009 * revue Hétérographe, " Solitude publique ", mars 2009 * revue Action restreinte, " Kit & Scat Song ", février 2009 * François Bon, " Tu marchais dans la maison des morts, vidéo ", dans : " François Bon, éclats de réalité ", Dominique Viart et Jean-Bernard Vray (eds), PU de Saint Etienne 2008 * Joë Bousquet, " Mystique ", dans : Joë Bousquet, " Maigre nudité du soir ", éditions de l'Atelier du Gué 2008 * revue Lieux d'Être N° 45, " Naître détruit ", 2007 * revue Faire Part N° 20–21, " Coudrier, une gravure à la Manière noire ", dans : " Matière d'Origine : Jacques Dupin ", 2007 * Aral, dans : " Jean-Marie Barnaud, Pour saluer la bienvenue ", Bibliothèque municipale de Charleville-Mézières 2002

Short movies

Phil Rahmy displayed his vision as a director and award-winning independent short film producer through his later productions which were being distributed and viewed globally. ''Later viewings'' * Uplink Factory, video festival, official selection of Swiss short films (OBLO), "The Body remains", Tokyo, Japan, 2011. * Gallery Arts-en-l'Ile, projection of "M.R.I. ", curator Penelope Petsini, Geneva, Switzerland, 2010 * Special Prize of the Jury at the Oblò Underground Short Film Festival, "The Body remains", Lausanne, Switzerland, 2009 * Museum of Modern Arts (MAMCO), projection of "M.R.I"., Geneva, Switzerland, 2009 * Festival Côté Court 2008, official selection of "The Body remains", Cinéma 104, Pantin, France, 2008. * Un festival c'est trop court, programm FILMS D'ICI, official selection, "The Body remains", Nice, France, 2008. * Official Selection for exhibition in the New York International Independent Film & Video Festival, "The Body remains", New York February, Manhattan, NYC, 2008.

Photography

His photographic work concentrated on the human body and the topic of so-called "normality". ''Later expos'' * Photovision 2011, exposition of the series "The Glory of the Body", in collaboration with Antilipseis Magazine of Photography. At the end of 2011, the expo will be part of the Athens School of Fine Arts fund, Athens, Greece, 2011. * China Dolls Magazine, "Body & Norm", Beijing, China, 2010. * Special Prize of the Jury at the Oblò Underground Short Film Festival, "The Body remains", Lausanne, Switzerland, 2009 * Universal Exposition of Shanghai, "Immobility and Movement", FFA Pavilion, Shanghai, China, 2010 * Revue d'Ici Là, Online Art Magazine, France, 2010. * Un festival c'est trop court, programm FILMS D'ICI, official selection, "The Body remains", Nice, France, 2008.

Screenwriting

Phil Rahmy was active as a screenwriter, and has co-founded Wallman Productions, a Hollywood-based independent film and music production company, in association with the famous jazzman Art Johnson.

Distinctions / Grants

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

: Prix des Charmettes/Jean-Jacques Rousseau for "Mouvement par la fin" (Cheyne Editeur, 2005) *

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

: Lauréat de la bourse d'écriture Pro Helvetia *

: Finaliste Prix FEMS pour la littérature *

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

: Writer-in-residence, Shanghai Writers Association *

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

: Prix Wepler Fondation La Poste 2013 Mention spéciale du jury for ''Béton armé'' (Éditions La Table Ronde, 2013) *

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

: Meilleur récit de voyage - Sélection Lire for ''Béton armé'' (Éditions La Table Ronde, 2013) *

: Prix Pittard de l'Andelyn for ''Béton armé'' (Éditions La Table Ronde, 2013) *

: Prix Dentan for ''Béton armé'' (Éditions La Table Ronde, 2013) *

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

: Writer-in-residence
Château de Lavigny
*

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

: Writer-in-residence, Escuela de Otoño de Traducción Literaria en Lenguas Vivas, Buenos AiresEscuela de Otoño de Traducción Literaria 2016 http://ieslvf.caba.infd.edu.ar/sitio/index.cgi?wid_seccion=37 *

: Prix Eugène-Rambert for ''Allegra'' (Éditions La Table Ronde, 2016) *

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

: Swiss Literature Awards for ''Allegra'' (Éditions La Table Ronde, 2016) Swiss Office for Culture 2017 http://www.prixlitterature.ch/fr/prix-suisses-litterature-2017/philippe-rahmy/ *

: Writer-in-residence, Fondation Jan Michalski pour l'écriture et la littérature, Montricher, Switzerland Fontation Jan Michalski pour l'écriture et la littérature, http://www.fondation-janmichalski.com/residence-pour-ecrivains/residents-2017/

References

Publication references

Bibliography

Bibliothèque cantonale universitaire

articles by Philippe Rahmy on remue.net

texts by Philippe Rahmy on remue.net

rahmyfiction.net Philippe Rahmy's blog