French editor Jacques Sadoul (b.1934) died on January 18. Worked as an editor for Editions Opta and J’ai Iu, working to bring Anglophonic science fiction to France as well as publishing French authors. He founded the Prix Apollo and also published Histoire de la science fiction moderne in 1973.
French actor Jean Topart (b.1922) died on December 29. Topart provided the voice of Maitre Sinh in La planète sauvage and appeared in the television movie Le testament du Docteur Cordelier and various French television series. In addition to his own work, he was highly sought after to dub French voices for American films.
The Utopiales Awards were presented in Nantes, France. The awards carry a prize of €3000 and are presented for works produced by Europeans and published in French in the year of eligibility.
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French critic and editor Jacques Goimard (b.1923) died on October 25 of Parkinson’s Disease. Goimard has published critical essays in Fiction, Metal hurlant, and Le Monde. He worked on the anthologies La Grande Anthologie de la science-fiction and La Grande Anthologie du fantastique. He worked on more than 800 books for Pocket.
The Louvre Museum in Paris is hosting an exhibit on Star Wars memorabilia through March 17. The exhibit spotlights the collection of Arnaud Grunberg, a toy collector who has loaned 450 items, ranging from action figures to light sabres. The exhibit also includes scenes recreated from the movies using action figures. Grunberg began his collection after he saw Star Wars in 1977, when he was 11.
French filmmaker Chris Marker (b.1921) died on July 29. Marker wrote and directed the French short La Jetée, which served as the basis for his later film The Twelve Monkeys. He also directed the animated short Les astronautes. He won the Prix Jean Vigo for La Jetée.
Obituary: Chris Marker
French author Roland C. Wagner (b.1960) died in a car accident on August 5. Wagner began publishing in 1980 and has received the Prix Rosny-Aîné six times. Although most of his work has not been translated into English, his alternate history biography of H. P. Lovecraft, was translated as HPL (1890–1991).
French actor Pierre Tornade (b.1930) died on March 7. Tornade provided the voice of Obélix in several Asterisk films from 1985 to 1994 and before that provided other voices in the series. He also appeared in a television adaptation of Le passe-muraille.
French author Henri-Richard Bessière (b.1923) died on December 22. Bessière, who began publishing under the name F. Richard-Bessière and later went by Richard Bessière, was the first author published by Fleuve Noir’s Anticipation line in 1951 and proceeded to publish 98 titles between 1951 and 1985. Bessière wrote three major series for Anticipation, the Professor Béac books, the Sydney Gordon books, and the Harry Stewart books, as well as numerous stand-alone novels. His work was discussed in English in the recent volume The Anticipation Novelists of 1950s French Science Fiction, by Bradford Lyau.
French author Louis Thirion (b.1923) died on December 9. Thirion published his first novel, Waterloo, morne plaine in 1964 and continued to publish for more than 40 years. In addition to his novels, he also wrote radio plays. Beginning in 1968, most of his fiction was published by Fleuve Noir, including his Jord Maogan series, Les Stols, Les Whums se vengent, Ysée-A, Sterga la noire, and Le Secret d’Ipavar. His work was often focused on eco-disasters and was dystopian in nature. In the 2000s, he published three historical novels.