Stephen Clarke (born 15 October 1958 in St. Albans) is a British author who lives and works in Paris and has declared and explained his love to France: "I love France because here you are working for a living and not vice versa". His novel A Year in the Merde established him as a writer of fiction, featuring a first person narrator named Paul West. His novels depict French life style from the personal perspective of a temporarily alienated, still increasingly emphatic English gentleman who just tries to fit in but is confronted by prejudice.