A brief chat with... Bernard Salvat

Parental influence, be it intentional or not, often shapes the lives of children and it is not unusual to find an interviewee has begun their working life in the same world as a parent. So it was with French author Bernard Salvat, who says: “Both of my parents were teachers and I too studied and qualified in teaching. The problem was teaching is often a vocation rather than just a profession – one has to be committed with a passion in order to do it well, and I wasn’t so committed to it,” he admits, ruefully.

Once qualified to teach, Bernard