About
Let Me Introduce Myself
Let me introduce myself: a late-blooming writer now in retirement, it took me more than five years to write this trilogy, a fascinating story set in the world of the transgender community. Combining the written word with the spoken word, the words of the mind with those of the heart—that is what best defines this stage of my life’s journey.
As a teenager, my idol was Bruce Jenner, an extraordinary athlete with undeniable charisma; he was the gold medalist in the decathlon at the 1976 Montreal Olympics. He surprised the whole world by publicly announcing his desire to transition to become a woman at the age of sixty-five!
Aside from an autobiographical essay dedicated to my children, “AFTER” is my first step into writing. That’s how the project took shape, slowly. Intrigued and curious, Jenner was my starting point, but not my destination. And, from a single book to a trilogy, this story between a man and a transgender woman is anything but ordinary. The more I learned about this community, the more the story’s contours took shape, the more I understood just how colossal a challenge it would be to be at the heart of their lives. For a transgender person, living authentically in order to achieve a certain sense of fulfillment is no simple matter.
The theme of my story goes far beyond the scope of a simple love story. It transcends boundaries to explore broader, deeper, and more dizzying territories. Writing a trilogy on a subject of such magnitude proved to be a demanding, yet deeply rewarding, endeavor.
Gaining access to the intimate essence of this world was particularly perilous. For people of my generation, the very word “transgender” was practically taboo. I am one of those who are open-minded; otherwise, I would not have been able to write *After*. Merging with the characters’ minds to do justice to this community and understand it without judgment—that was my challenge. This captivating world, if ever there was one, presented me with significant challenges in finding an authentic and realistic perspective, allowing me to blend with the characters and give them an authentic flavor.
I’m excited and eager to surprise you from one chapter to the next. My ambition is certainly to spark an insatiable desire to keep reading my work and to breathe life and emotion into this trilogy through my writing.
As a father of three and grandfather of four, I have chosen not to judge ignorance or the indecency of remarks often stemming from an upbringing that no longer aligns with today’s reality.
A word about my faithful companion “Tiloup,” who, after eighteen years of unconditional love, passed away on October 1st…