Jacqueline Harpman

Jacqueline Harpman (5 July 1929 – 24 May 2012) was a Belgian writer who wrote in French.

She was born on 5 July 1929, in Etterbeek, Belgium, and was later well known for her books written in French. Her father being a Dutch-born Jew, Harpman's family fled to Casablanca, Morocco when the Nazis invaded during World War Two and they did not return home until the war had ended. After studying French literature, Harpman began training to become a doctor but could not complete her studies as she contracted tuberculosis. She began writing in 1954 and her first work, L'Amour et l'acacia, was published in 1958. In 1980, she qualified as a psychoanalyst. I Who Have Never Known Men was her first book to be published in English, and was originally published with the title The Mistress of Silence.

She died on 24 May 2012, in Brussels, Belgium, after having been severely ill for a long time. She was 82.

In 2019, an avenue in Brussels was named after her in acknowledgement of her works.