Martin Winckler

Martin Winckler (born Marc Zaffran; 22 February 1955, in French Algeria) is a French M.D. and short story, novel and essay writer. His main topics are the French medical system, the relationships between caregivers and patients and Women's Health. One of the first TV series critics in France, he has written numerous articles and books on the subject (ER; Grey's Anatomy; House, MD; Law & Order).

His family emigrated from Algeria first to Israel in 1961 then to France in 1962. He was a dedicated young reader and writer. After graduating from Medical School in Tours, he practised in a small country town in Sarthe (western rural France) from 1983 to 1993. From 1983 to 1989, he worked as an editor then as assistant editor-in-chief for the independent medical journal La Revue Prescrire under his real name, Marc Zaffran.

In the mid-80's, his first short stories were published under the pseudonym "Martin Winckler". This name is a tribute to the French writer Georges Perec: Gaspard Winckler is one of the main characters in La Vie mode d'emploi (Life: A User's Manual), 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; (in English The Case of Dr Sachs Translated by Linda Asher, Seven Stories Press, NY, 2000). It became a motion picture, written, produced and directed by Rosalinde and Michel Deville (1999). Albert Dupontel plays Bruno Sachs.