Marc Zaffran, alias Martin Winckler, was born in Algiers in 1955. His family moved to Israel and then, in 1962, to France. He obtained an M.D. in 1977, and, in 1983, opened his own office as a general practitioner. He also worked part time at a women's health center performing abortions.
His first novel, "La vacation", was published in 1989. In 1994 he stopped practicing medicine altogether and began writing full time. "La Maladie de Sachs (The Case of Doctor Sachs)" was released in France in 1997 to great fanfare. A movie version, directed by Michel Deville, won first prize at this year's Chicago Film Festival and will be released in the U.S. next winter.
In addition to his novels, Winckler has published numerous essays on social and medical issues. He has translated into French the works of Richard Powers, Patrick Macnee, and Nicholson Baker. Winckler lives in a small village in France with his wife and eight children.
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