Daniel Pennac

Daniel Pennac was born in 1944 in Casablanca, Morocco. Child in a military family, he traveled throughout the world and, once back in France, found school exceedingly boring. Thankfully, he discovered books.

In 1969 he became a teacher and taught academically-challenged students for 25 years. In 1973 he published his first book, which debunked the main myths about serving in the military.

During the years that followed, Daniel Pennac published many novels and essays, including Better than Life, published in 1992 by Gallimard, which won him international acclaim. Among other works, Daniel Pennac is the author of La Saga Malaussène (first volume published in 1985), Messieurs les enfants (1997), and Chagrin d'école (published in English as School Blues).

He has also written widely for children (Cabot-Caboche, Eye of the Wolf, and the Kamo books).

As a comics writer, Daniel Pennac published La Débauche in 2000 with Jacques Tardi, two Lucky Luke albums in collaboration with the novelist Tonino Benacquista and the illustrator Achdé, and, in 2015 with Florence Cestac, he published (Dargaud; A Love for the Ages, Europe Comics 2017).