Marcel Béalu (30 October 1908 – 19 June 1993) was a writer and bookseller born in Selles-sur-Cher in the Loire Valley. He died in Paris in 1993. Béalu was raised in impoverished circumstances in the town of Saumur, not far from his birthplace. Largely self-taught, he read the classics of French literature on his own initiative while working as a haberdasher in Montargis, a town on the canal that links the Loire and the Seine. His wife, Marguerite Kessel, encouraged him to read German literature as well. The grim and cerebral atmosphere of German Romantic literature would make itself felt in his style.
In 1937, Béalu met the poet Max Jacob, who gave him critical encouragement and advice.