Pierre Versins (born Jacques Chamson; January 12, 1923 in Strasbourg – April 19, 2001 in Avignon) was a French Science Fiction collector and

scholar A scholar is a person who is a researcher or has expertise in an academic discipline. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researcher at a university. An academic usually holds an advanced degree or a termina ...

. From 1957-62, he published a critical fanzine, ''Ailleurs''. He published four science fiction novels between 1951 and 1971, including ''En avant, Mars'', ''Les etoiles ne s'en foutent pas'', ''Leprofesseur'', and ''Les transhumains''. His ex-wife, Martine Thome, is credited on the short story "Ceux d'Argos". Versins always specified that Thome's name appears on this particular short story because it was initially her idea ("One cent idea"), yet written entirely by Versins himself, in his personal style. Versins published ''Encyclopedie de Utopie et de la sf'', which won a special award at

Torcon II The 31st World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon), also known as Torcon II, was held on 31 August–3 September 1973 at the Fairmont Royal York, Royal York Hotel in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The chairman was John Millard. Participants At ...

, the 1973

Worldcon Worldcon, officially the World Science Fiction Convention, the annual convention of the World Science Fiction Society (WSFS), is a science fiction convention. It has been held each year since 1939 (except for the years 1942 to 1945, during Wor ...

and he won a

Pilgrim Award The Pilgrim Award is presented by the Science Fiction Research Association for Lifetime Achievement in the field of science fiction scholarship. It was created in 1970 and was named after J. O. Bailey’s pioneering book ''Pilgrims Through Space an ...

from the Science Fiction Research Association in 1991. In 1975, he founded the Maison d'Ailleurs, a museum of science fiction, utopia and extraordinary journey in Yverdon-les-Bains, (Switzerland). During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Versins was incarcerated in

Auschwitz Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It consisted of Auschw ...

References

External links

Maison d'Ailleurs
1923 births 2001 deaths French speculative fiction critics French speculative fiction editors French science fiction writers Science fiction critics French male novelists 20th-century French novelists 20th-century French male writers French male non-fiction writers {{France-writer-stub