Yves Velan (1925-2017) is a swiss writer. He studied literature in Lausanne where he became a member of the Société de Belles Lettres and worked two years as a reader for the University of Florence. Together with others, he founded the left-wing literary magazine “Rencontre” (1949-1952). As a communist, he was banned from the teaching profession in the Canton of Vaud. He then moved to La Chaux-de-Fonds where he taught literature at the local high school. At the end of the 1960’s, he temporarily left the Jura of Neuchâtel for a long stay in the United States where he taught French literature in Illinois. His first novel “Je” was published in 1959. Yves Velan’s work has been awarded the Grand Prix C.F. Ramuz and the Prix de littérature of the canton of Neuchâtel.