Passion or Profession: Writer, Artist

Period: 1902–1981

Malcolm de Chazal was from aristocratic French stock that had settled in Mauritius in the 1700s. His early years showed little promise of the writer and artist he would later become—he studied sugar production in college. But after finishing school and traveling extensively, he abandoned his career path and went on to become one of the nation’s most famous, if eccentric, personalities.