Jacques Réda

Jacques Réda was born close to Paris, in Lunéville, in 1929. After having abandoned law studies, he moved to Paris and, from 1961 onwards, started publishing poems in various publications. His passion for jazz led him to collaborate as an editor with Jazz Magazine as of 1963. Gallimard published his first collections of poems in 1968, for which he won the Max Jacob prize. A few publications later, he became part of the reading committee of Gallimard and, in 1987, become the editor in chief of the Nouvelle Revue Française. He won the Grand Prix de l’Académie Française for his works in 1993.

Jacques Réda is a travelling poet, but feels no need to travel the globe since the urban universe which surrounds him is a constant source of inspiration. It is thus on his “vélo-solex” that he goes on his expeditions through the streets of the French capital, observing its dynamics and the constant mutation of its geography. Through his writing, he reproduces these constant movements amongst the familiar commonness that he both claims and fights.

Selected bibliography

• L'Affaire du "Ramsès III", Lagrasse : Verdier, 2004
• Nouvelles aventures de Pelby, Paris : Gallimard, 2003
• Treize chansons de l'amour noir, Montpellier : Fata Morgana, 2002
• Autobiographie du Jazz, Castelnau-le-Lez : Climats, 2002
• Les Fins fonds, Lagrasse : Verdier, 2002
• Aller au diable, Paris : Gallimard, 2002
• Accidents de la circulation, Paris : Gallimard, 2001
• Le Lit de la reine, Lagrasse : Verdier, 2001
• La Course : nouvelles poésies itinérantes et familières, (1993-1998), Paris : Gallimard, 1999
• Le Citadin, Paris : Gallimard, 1998
• La Liberté des rues, Paris : Gallimard, 1997
• L’Incorrigible, Paris : Gallimard, 1995
• Aller aux mirabelles, Paris : Gallimard, 1991
• Lettres sur l’univers et autres discours en vers français, Paris : Gallimard, 1991
• Le Sens de la marche, Paris : Gallimard, 1990
• Retour au calme, Paris :Gallimard, 1989
• Un Paradis d’oiseaux, Montpellier, Fata Morgana, 1988
• Recommandations aux promeneurs, Paris : Gallimard, 1988
• Châteaux des courants d’air, Paris : Gallimard, 1986
• Celle qui vient à pas légers, Montpellier, Fata Morgana, 1985 (réed. 1999)
• L’Herbe des talus, Paris : Gallimard, 1984
• Le Bitume est exquis, Montpellier : Fata Morgana, 1984
• Hors les murs, Paris : Gallimard, 1982
• Les Ruines de Paris, Paris : Gallimard, 1977
• La Tourne, Paris : Gallimard, 1975
• Récitatif, Paris : Gallimard, 1970
• Amen, Paris : Gallimard, 1968