Jacques Bens

Born of teacher-parents at Cadolive, Jacques Bens spent his childhood and his youth in Marseilles, where his studies in zoology were interrupted in 1951 for health reasons.

Jacques Bens worked from 1960 to 1963 under the direction of Raymond Queneau at the Encyclopédie de la Pléiade.

Dataire of the College of 'Pataphysics; Bens was a co-founder member of the Oulipo, participated on 24 November 1960 with Claude Berge, Jacques Duchateau [fr] François Le Lionnais, Jean Lescure, Raymond Queneau and Jean Queval at the first meeting of which he was definitively appointed provisional secretary.

In 1963, Jacques Bens returned to the Alpes-Maritimes, where he was responsible for various publishing works and then relations with the press of the Théâtre de Nice (1972–1975).

Between 1980 and 1991, he was general secretary of the Société des gens de lettres and held the crossword heading of L'Express and Lire.

Cadolive where Jacques Bens was born
Ornithogalum umbellatum or Dame d'onze heures , of which Jacques Bens made the title of one of his books in 1994