Maria AndreasWriter
Maria Andreas was born in Algiers with Swiss/French dual-nationality. In the 70s, left-wing and anti-military, she gained her Baccalaureate at La Chaux-de-Fonds. She began her literary studies in Neuchâtel before graduating from Zürich University.
Fascinated by Buddhism and any new culture, she then embarked upon a long trip across Asia and North Africa in a small camper van, as was the hippie way at the time!
Following that Maria worked as a teacher in London, having qualified as a teacher at Cambridge University. A lover of beauty in all its forms, she obtained an international diploma as a beautician in Zürich. The next 25 years saw her teaching French literature in German-speaking Switzerland. Then she moved to Bordeaux and began studying again, obtaining a Bachelor’s degree in Theology from the Saint-Denys Institute and a certificate of study from the Saint-Serge Institute of Theology, both in Paris. Then followed a certificate in Applied Psychology from the IAPP Institute in Düsseldorf. During this time, she also participated in a long Jungian analysis with Professor Gérard Ostermann.
Trials that tested her resilience projected her into the Byzantine world. She fell in love with its traditions, the Greek language and lived in Cyprus for a year. This can all be read about in her most recent book "Cyprus, I Have Embraced Your Heart". She then decided to reconnect with her writing, for which in 1967 she won first prize for her dissertation in the European Schools Competition in Strasbourg.