The director, producer, and Breton writer Michel Tréguer passed away on May 28, 2026, at the age of 85. A regular collaborator with the Agence Bretagne Presse, where he published 66 articles, he leaves behind the image of a versatile personality, both a polytechnic engineer, a television man, an essayist, and a defender of Breton culture.
Michel Tréguer passed away on May 28, 2026, at the age of 85. Born on October 20, 1940, in Coat-Méal and having grown up in Brest, he followed an unusual path that led him from the sciences to audiovisual work, then to writing and philosophical reflection. He is part of the lineage of the Morvan Lebesque, those Breton intellectuals who traveled the world, civilizations, and ideas before returning to port, to the source of their human condition, to assert their identity.
A graduate of École polytechnique (class of 1959), he joined the RTF Research Service in 1964. He then participated in one of the most creative periods of French television.
During his career, Michel Tréguer produced over 200 television programs. His name remains associated with cultural programs hosted by Bernard Rapp or Philippe Tesson, but also with popular shows aimed at youth, particularly around Dorothée, Jacky, and Cabu in the world of Récré A2.
Michel Tréguer was also deeply attached to Brittany, where he settled permanently upon his retirement. A prolific writer, essayist, and attentive observer of contemporary Breton society, he hosted the "café breton" at the Dialogues bookstore in Brest and reported on it in Breton or French in the ABP. Over the years, from 2008 to 2200, he published 66 articles , addressing cultural, philosophical, linguistic, and societal issues, sometimes even in Breton, a language he had to learn by himself.
I was not taught Breton in my childhood. So I decided on my own to start. I then doubled my activities as a director: for twenty years I worked in French in Paris and in Breton in Rennes (France 3) where there was not enough work. I signed about thirty films in Breton, fictions, documentaries: on the millennial gwerzioù and with contemporary Breton speakers, old, young, children. Is that worth books? In Paris, I imposed programs on Breton culture, thus with Breton, on TF1 and France Culture.
He translated Roparz Hemon's book "Ur Breizhad oc'h adkavout Breizh" (A Breton rediscovering Brittany) from Breton to French and co-wrote "La Nuit celtique" with his friend Donatien Laurent. His book on identity "Espèce d'homme" is a scathing critique, in which he denounces a France where "the hexagon and the nation have become, since the old regime but even more so under the revolution, the absolute sacred values, untouchable to which all other realities must be subordinated."
Through his unique journey, at the crossroads of science, media, and culture, Michel Tréguer left a mark on several generations. The entire editorial team at ABP extends its sincere condolences to his family, friends, and all those who appreciated his writings and commitment.
