Born in Casablanca, Morocco, Thierry Cohen moved to France at the age of two in a family with five children. After a dramatic childhood, he found comfort reading books. He discovered literature, particularly American, for its diversity and richness (Hemingway, Steinbeck, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Jack Kerouac, John Fante, Norman Mailer, Jim Harrison, Philip Roth, etc.). He began writing without telling a soul, just for the pleasure of putting his emotions into words. He wrote I'd Rather Have Lived following the suicide of his best friend, in order to exorcise the pain, to tell others the story of his friend's decision so they'd avoid making it themselves. He never considered it might be published.