Valérie Valère

Valérie Valère was the pseudonym of Valérie Samama (1 November 1961 – 17 December 1982), 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. she was committed to a psychiatric hospital for anorexia nervosa. Two years later she wrote a book about it, Le Pavillon des enfants fous ("The mad children's ward"), published in 1978 by Editions Stock. Her book criticizes the hospital setting in which she spent four months, describing it as coercive, humiliating and dehumanizing for the patients.

In parallel with her studies at the lycée Racine in Paris, she took courses in tightrope walking at the school of Annie Fratellini.

She acted in two films, Pierrette (1977) by Guy Jorré and Équilibres (1979) de Marion Hänsel.

She took her life at age 21, on 17 December 1982. published by Perrin with an unpublished text by the author, Laisse pleurer la pluie sur tes yeux ("Let the rain weep on your eyes"), contributed by its historic publisher Christian de Bartillat.