Martin Winckler (born Marc Zaffran on 22 February 1955 in French Algeria) is a French M.D. and short story, novel and essay writer. His main subjects are the French medical system, the healing relationship and contraception; he also wrote critical papers and books about TV serials (he is one of the first specialists of this subject in France).
His family returned to France in 1963. He was a dedicated young reader and writer. After graduating from the Medicine Faculty of Tours, he practised in a small country town nearby from 1983 to 1993. During this time he worked for the magazine Prescrire under his real name, Marc Zaffran.
In 1984, his first short stories were published under a pseudonym: Martin Winckler. This name is a tribute to the great French writer Georges Perec: Gaspard Winckler is one of the main characters in La Vie mode d'emploi, a very important book in Marc Zaffran's literary education. His first novel La Vacation (pub. 1989) introduces the central character of his major novels, Bruno Sachs M.D., who became famous in France with his second published novel La Maladie de Sachs (Sachs disease in English), adapted for a movie by Rosalinde and Michel Deville (1999). In it, Albert Dupontel plays Bruno Sachs.
In 1993 he stopped being a country doctor and became a full-time writer and translator. However, he remains a part-time doctor at the Le Mans public hospital.
Created in 2004, his web site has published numerous texts about healthcare, contraception, TV serials. The "Contraception / Gynécology" section is the most frequently viewed.
From 2009 he lived in Montreal where he worked as an invited researcher at the Centre de Recherches en éthique à l'Université de Montréal (CREUM), on a research project about the training of medical personnel.
Medicine
Contraceptions mode d'emploi, 2001 ; Second ed. reviewed, Au Diable Vauvert, 2003. Third ed., J'ai Lu, 2007
C’est grave docteur ? Ce que disent les patients, ce qu'entendent les médecins, La Martinière, 2002.
Nous sommes tous des patients, interview with Catherine Nabokov, Le Livre de poche, 2005.
Les Droits du Patient, with Salomé Viviana, Collection "Soigner", Fleurus 2007
Choisir sa contraception, Collection "La Santé en questions", Fleurus 2007.
Tout ce que vous vouliez savoir sur les règles... sans jamais avoir osé le demander, Collection "La Santé en questions", Fleurus 2008.
Novels, etc.
La Vacation, POL, 1989.
La Maladie de Sachs, (Sachs disease in English), POL, 1998; film directed by Michel Deville with Albert Dupontel, 1999.
Les Trois Médecins, POL, 2004; (Bruno Sachs' years in Medicine Faculty).
Le Poulpe, « Touche pas à mes deux seins », Baleine n°221 (2001) puis Librio n°559 (2002).
Légendes, autobiographic text, P.O.L, 2002
Plumes d'Ange, autobiographic text, P.O.L, 2003
Mort in vitro, Fleuve noir & Mutualité française, 2003.
Camisoles, Fleuve Noir, 2006.
Noirs scalpels (anthology collection Néo ) au Cherche Midi, 2006.
J'ai Mal Là ..., Les Petits Matins, 2006
Le numéro 7 collection Néo au Cherche Midi, 2007; (relates with the British TV show The Prisoner)
Histoires en l'air, P.O.L, 2008
Un pour Deux, "La Trilogie Twain, tome 1" Calmann-Lévy, 2008
L'un ou l'autre, "La Trilogie Twain, tome 2", Calmann-Lévy, 2009
Deux pour Tous, "La Trilogie Twain, tome 3", Calmann-Lévy, 2009
Le Chœur des femmes, P.O.L, 2009 (the first novel in which Bruno Sachs is absent, but some characters refer to him because he left France for Montreal... just like the author)
TV serials
1993: Mission impossible with Alain Carrazé (Néo - Huitième art)
1997: Les Nouvelles Séries américaines et britanniques 1996-1997 (coll. co-dirigé avec Alain Carrazé), Belles Lettres
1999: Les Séries télé (with Christophe Petit & Jean-Jacques Schléret), Larousse, collection « Guide Totem » ; dictionnaires de séries.
2003-2005: Histoire des séries américaines:
tome 1, Les Miroirs de la vie, Le Passage
tome 2 (collective), Les Miroirs obscurs, Le Diable Vauvert
2004: Les séries TV et le soap opera, lecture at the Université de tous les savoirs; you can watch it at [1].
2005: Séries télé : De Zorro à Friends, 60 ans de téléfictions américaines, Éditions J'ai Lu, Collection Librio Repères
2007: Le meilleur des séries, collective, Éditions Hors Collection
2008: L'année des Séries 2008, collective, Éditions Hors Collection
Others
Les Cahiers Marcœur, 1991; never published, available at Martin Winckler's website. Fragments have been published as Le mystère Marcœur (L’amourier, 2001).
Neuf contes pour nos enfants, CD, De Vive Voix, 2002.
Le corps en suspens, texts by Martin Winckler - photographs by Henri Zerdoun, 50 photographies en hôpital, chez des médecins à la campagne ou en ville, Zulma, 2002
Super Héros, EPA, 2003; (about comics characters).
Odyssée. Une aventure radiophonique, Le Cherche-Midi, 2003; anthology of radio chronicles on France Inter.
Docteur Je sais tout, chronicles in Spirou HeBDo, readers asked questions to which he gave ironic answers. Illustrations by Johan de Moor.
Le Rire de Zorro, Bayard, 2005
Préface
Changer de sexe, Identités transsexuelles, by Stéphanie Nicot and Alexandra Augst-Merelle, Editions Le Cavalier Bleu, 2006
