Jean-Christophe Rufin

Jean-Christophe Rufin, a doctor, traveler, and author, has written novels that have become classics. He was born in 1952 in Bourges, Cher, France. His life, education, curiosity, medical training, studies in political science, love for travel, and especially for Ethiopia, all seem to have paved the way for him to write a novel. "The Abyssinian" was honored with the prestigious Prix Goncourt for a first novel and the Prix Méditerranée in 1997, translated into 14 languages, and sold over 200,000 copies in France alone. A former vice-president of Doctors Without Borders and head of the French Ministry of Defense's humanitarian mission in Bosnia in 1993, he served as the director of research at the Institute of Strategic and International Studies at Paris-Nord University. He has written many significant political analyses, and his book "Les causes perdues" won the Interallié Prize in 1997. The novel "Brazil Red" was awarded the Prix Goncourt in 2001 and was a finalist for the Grand Prix du Roman of the French Academy. In 2013, his book "Immortelle randonnée: Compostelle malgré moi" achieved tremendous success. In 2008, he was elected as an academician.