Jean - Claude Izzo

Jean-Claude Izzo (1945-2000) was born, lived, and died in Marseille. He was the son of an Italian bartender and a Spanish hairdresser. He used to say about himself: "I am half Italian, half Spanish with a hint of Arab blood, a true Marseillais." He volunteered in Djibouti and trained as a mine worker. Izzo was a member of the French Communist Party, worked for years as a journalist for the local organization's newspaper ("La Marseillaise"), and wrote film and television scripts. His writings reflected a socialist realism. In the late 1970s, Izzo ceased active political involvement, resigned from the newspaper, and began living in the trenches of literature as a bookseller, librarian, and organizer of literary events. Well-traveled, from Ethiopia and Tangier to Istanbul, from Naples to Barcelona, and from Marseille to Alexandria, he believed that we are all lost sailors. At the age of 50, he published his first novel titled "Total Chaos." This was followed by the books "Chourmo" (1996) and "Solea" (1998), which were translated into many languages. He passed away in January 2000 in Marseille.