Georges Simenon (12/13 February, 1903-4 September, 1989) was a Belgian writer known for this detective fiction and his character Jules Maigret.
Fun Facts about Georges Simenon:
1. Georges Joseph Christian Simenon was born in Liège, Belgium, where he was raised by his parents, Désiré Simenon and Henriette Brüll.
2. We don’t know if he was born after 11:30 pm on 12 February or was it after midnight on 13 February?
It is thought that the date was falsified as to not having him born on Friday the 13th,
3. The young man showed his intelligence very early and was able to read at the age of three.
4. When World War I started, the town of Liège was occupied by the German army. His mother lodged German officers, even though his father did not approve.
5. Despite the war, Georges Simenon remembers the time to be very happy, especially since everyone cheated on everyone else, including his parents.
6. He got his first job as a junior reporter at age 15 for a Catholic newspaper called the Gazette de Liège. Five years later he started publishing short fiction and completed his first novel Au Pont des Arches, which he self-published.
7. He excelled in learning French and in 1922 moved to Paris with his future wife Régine (Tigy). He worked menial jobs for a year before returning, as a married man to Liège.
8. He found a job as the private secretary for the Marquis de Tracy, the job allowed him to write and submit stories. His literary editor advised him to write stories that are “less literary” which Simenon thought meant to stick to common words and simple descriptions. Soon he was selling short stories at 80 pages and turned his attention to pulp fiction.
9. During World War II Georges Simenon was appointed Commissioner for Refugees in La Rochelle taking care of around 55,000 refugees.
10. During his lifetime, Mr. Simenon published around 400 works of fiction, including detective and literary ones (almost half under his own name), 21 memoirs, and many short stories. He sold over 500 million copies.
Zohar — Man of la Book
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Sources:
Georges Simenon | Wikipedia
