Régine Deforges (1935–2014)

Régine Deforges was born in Montmorillon, in the Poitou region of France, and educated by nuns. As a teenager, she and her family followed her father to Guinea, in west Africa, for his work. In 1953, Régine returned to France and married Pierre Spengler, an insurance agent with whom she had son. She started working in a bookshop and met publisher Jean-Jacques Pauvert, with whom she had a daughter. In 1965, after the breakdown of her marriage to Spengler, the couple opened a bookshop together. In 1967, Régine created her own books imprint, L’Or Du Temps, becoming the first woman to found a publishing house in France. It published erotic classics by such writers as Apollinaire, Gautier, and Restif La Bretonne. She began to write herself, creating novels, short stories, and anthologies that explored female sexuality. Her first work, Le Cahier volé (1978), based on her own teenage diaries, recounted in detail a close physical relationship with another girl at her high school, which when discovered had led to her expulsion. She was probably best known for her bestselling La Bicyclette bleue (1981), the first in a series of 10 novels. It sold more than 10 million copies in French and in translation, and was adapted into a television series in 2000. She was a popular guest on French television talk shows, and served as president of the Société des gens de lettres and on the jury of the Prix Femina.
In 1984, she married Pierre Wiazemsky (also known as Wiaz), an artist 14 years her junior, with whom she had another daughter.
Régine Deforges werd geboren in Montmorillon, Frankrijk. In de vele beroepen die zij heeft uitgeoefend, stond altijd het boek centraal. In 1968 begon zij als eerste vrouw in Frankrijk een eigen uitgeverij. Van haar bestseller "De Blauwe Fiets-trilogie", die maandenlang op de Franse toptienlijsten schitterde, zijn in Frankrijk alleen al meer dan 5 miljoen exemplaren verkocht en de gehele romancyclus werd in elf talen vertaald.