Nicolas Bouvier

Nicolas Bouvier (Geneva, 1929-1998) was a Swiss writer, traveler, iconographer, and photographer. His father, a librarian, always encouraged him to read – as a child, he devoured books by Stevenson, Jules Verne, and Jack London – and to travel. Bouvier attended the University of Geneva, but left his studies in 1953 to embark with his friend Thierry Vernet on the journey that gave rise to his most acclaimed book, The World: How to Use It, which he published eight years later. Their most famous travels even took them to Sri Lanka (an experience that inspired his only novel, The Poisson-Scorpion), to Japan and the Aran Islands in Ireland (destinations to which he dedicated his travel books). Japanese Chronicle and Journal d'Aran et d'autres lieuxNicolas Bouvier worked for many years as a photographer and image researcher. He was also a founder, along with authors such as Max Frisch and Friedrich Dürrenmatt, of the Olten Group, an informal association of left-wing Swiss writers.