Jacques Chessex

Jacques Chessex (Payerne, 1 March 1934 – Yverdon-les-Bains, 9 October 2009) was a Swiss author and painter.

From 1969, he held a position as a French literature professor in the Gymnase de la Cité in Lausanne.

In 1999, he was awarded the Grand Prix de la langue française, and the Goncourt poetry grant for Allegria.

[citation needed] A play adapted from his 1967 novel The Confession of Father Burg had just had its premiere the night before his death.

Chessex suffered a heart attack and collapsed during a public discussion in Yverdon-les-Bains on 9 October 2009 about a play The Confession of Father Burg, and about his support for Roman Polanski (who was arrested in September 2009 by Swiss police because of his outstanding U.S. warrant when he entered the country to accept a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Zurich Film Festival).