The Landes Departmental Media Library invites you to meet Martin Hirsch on November 13 at the Ludo media library in Lit et Mixe. A literary moment not to be missed to better understand the social and societal questions that are shaking our world!
A meeting proposed by the Departmental Media Library of Landes and the Ludo-media library of Lit-et-Mixe. Hosted by Jean-Antoine Loiseau, literary journalist.
Martin Hirsch is a French writer, senior civil servant and politician, known for his commitment to the social sector and health.
Martin Hirsch was born in 1963 in Suresnes. After studying medicine, holding a DEA in neurobiology and a master's degree in biochemistry, he entered the ENA and joined the Council of State. He then turned to the civil service, occupying important positions in the field of health and social affairs (chief of staff of the Secretary of State for Health and advisor to the office of the Minister of Employment and Solidarity).
Subsequently, he held several government positions, notably as High Commissioner for Active Solidarity against Poverty (2007-2010), High Commissioner for Youth (2009-2010), High Commissioner for the Social Economy and solidarity and social innovation, and president of the Civic Service Agency. He is at the origin of the creation of the Active Solidarity Income (RSA) and civic service.
In 2013 he was appointed director general of Assistance publique-Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP), an institution that he left in 2022 after the tragic episode of Covid-19 and regretting not having been able to build “a hospital model different from what it was before, closer to the expectations and ambitions of all of us.”
In 2022, Martin Hirsch joined Galileo Global Education, the world leader in private higher education as executive vice-president, before returning to the Council of State in 2024.
The common thread of his career is this commitment “not ideological, but through action” with the poor, the sick and the young: president of the central union of the Emmaüs communities and Emmaüs France, member of the advisory committee of the High Authority for the Fight against Discrimination and for Equal Opportunities (Halde), and administrator of “La France s’engage”.
Alongside his career, Martin Hirsch wrote numerous essays on social issues, such as the fight against poverty and civic engagement: It becomes expensive to be poor, The lost letter, The roots of commitment.
Furthermore, The Open Heart Hospital and The Enigma of the Water Lily relate his experience within the Assistance publique-Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) of which he was Director General from 2013 to 2022.
His novel Les Solastalgiques, published by Éditions Stock in 2023, evokes the theme of ecoanxiety. Faced with the inaction of States, sixty-year-old Parisian intellectuals and young hackers are embarking on eco-terrorist actions, to change the fate of the planet. A fable about our own hesitations, our choices and the question of commitment. A novel that questions our helplessness in the face of a threat like humanity has never known.
A meeting to better understand the social and societal issues that are shaking our world!
