Valérie Valère

Biography

Valérie Valère was the pseudonym of Valérie Samama (1 November 1961 – 17 December 1981), a French writer. She published her first work, the book Le Pavillon des enfants fous, in 1978 after spending four months confined to a psychiatric hospital for anorexia nervosa. The book is an autobiographical account covering her relationship with her abusive parents, experiences as a child in French society, and in particular her institutionalized years. Critics praised her style of writing and her expressive, philosophically sophisticated articulations of systemic mistreatment and misunderstanding. Sch…