Maurice Zermatten was a French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

-speaking Swiss

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

 writer.

He was born in Saint-Martin, Valais

Saint-Martin, Valais

Saint-Martin is a municipality in the district of Hérens in the canton of Valais in Switzerland.-Geography:Saint-Martin has an area, , of . Of this area, 33.0% is used for agricultural purposes, while 42.9% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 2.4% is settled and 21.8% is unproductive land.The...

, a small village situated in the Val d'Hérens, in the canton of Valais

Valais

The Valais is one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland in the southwestern part of the country, around the valley of the Rhône from its headwaters to Lake Geneva, separating the Pennine Alps from the Bernese Alps. The canton is one of the drier parts of Switzerland in its central Rhône valley...

. He was first educated at the Ecole normale and then at the University of Fribourg

University of Fribourg

The University of Fribourg is a university in the city of Fribourg, Switzerland.The roots of the University can be traced back to 1582, when the notable Jesuit Peter Canisius founded the Collège Saint-Michel in the City of Fribourg. In 1763, an Academy of law was founded by the state of Frobourg...

. He published his first novel Le Coeur inutile in 1936 at the age of 26. He taught at the College of Sion

Sion, Switzerland

Sion is the capital of the Swiss canton of Valais. it had a population of .Landmarks include the Basilique de Valère and Château de Tourbillon. Sion has an airfield for civilian and military use, which, because of its location in a valley, causes a reasonable amount of noise pollution. FC Sion...

 where he stayed until retirement. In 1952 he became Lecturer (French Literature) at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zürich. Maurice Zermatten also performs a military career leading him to the rank of colonel

Colonel

Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...

.

He's dedicated himself to several literary genres like novel

Novel

A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....

, storytelling

Storytelling

Storytelling is the conveying of events in words, images and sounds, often by improvisation or embellishment. Stories or narratives have been shared in every culture as a means of entertainment, education, cultural preservation and in order to instill moral values...

, short-story, etc.

Born novelist, Maurice Zermatten describes the novel as "a complete kind where the author creates characters, history and environment. It is a fiction that reflects reality as it draws its imagination in life."

Maurice Zermatten is also Jean Zermatten

Jean Zermatten

Jean Zermatten is a specialist of Children's Rights. He's the son of the Swiss writer Maurice Zermatten. He's Chairman of the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child...

's father.

Works

Maurice Zermatten has published about 120 books most of them are novels. He also wrote theater pieces, short stories.

He dedicated works to writers : Charles Ferdinand Ramuz

Charles Ferdinand Ramuz

Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz was a French-speaking Swiss writer.He was born in Lausanne in the canton of Vaud and educated at the University of Lausanne. He taught briefly in nearby Aubonne, and then in Weimar, Germany. In 1903, he left for Paris and remained there until World War I, with frequent...

, Léon Savary, Rainer Maria Rilke

Rainer Maria Rilke

René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke , better known as Rainer Maria Rilke, was a Bohemian–Austrian poet. He is considered one of the most significant poets in the German language...

, Gonzague de Reynold and also to painters : Théodore Stravinski, Charles Menge, Georges Borgeaud

Georges Borgeaud

Georges Borgeaud was a Swiss writer and publisher.-Biography:Georges Borgeaud studied at Collège d'Aubonne and Collège de Saint-Maurice, where he met Maurice Chappaz and Jean Cuttat....

, Paul Monnier

Paul Monnier

Paul Monnier was a Swiss painter.-Biography:From 1924 to 1930, Monnier studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Geneva , took numerous trips in Italy and France, and was a member of the :fr:Ecole des Pâquis....

 and Ferdinand Dubuis.

Prizes and distinctions

Maurice Zermatten won several distinctions like : Schiller Prize (1938 and 1956), Grand Prix Catholique de Littérature for all his work (1959), Gottfried Keller Prize

Gottfried-Keller-Preis

The Gottfried-Keller-Preis or Prix Gottfried Keller is one of the oldest literary awards of Switzerland.The prize was created by Martin Bodmer and is named after the Swiss author Gottfried Keller...

 (1959), Prix de l'Académie française (1960),

He also became Officier de l’Ordre du mérite national français des arts et des lettres and Bourgeois d'honneur de la ville de Sion

Sion, Switzerland

Sion is the capital of the Swiss canton of Valais. it had a population of .Landmarks include the Basilique de Valère and Château de Tourbillon. Sion has an airfield for civilian and military use, which, because of its location in a valley, causes a reasonable amount of noise pollution. FC Sion...

(1976)