Catherine Millet is a French writer, art critic

Art critic

An art critic is a person who specializes in evaluating art. Their written critiques, or reviews, are published in newspapers, magazines, books and on web sites...

, curator

Curator

A curator is a manager or overseer. Traditionally, a curator or keeper of a cultural heritage institution is a content specialist responsible for an institution's collections and involved with the interpretation of heritage material...

, and founder and editor of the magazine Art Press

Art press

art press is a monthly international review of contemporary art. Its first issue was for December 1972–January 1973. The original branding, which has hardly changed since, was by Roger Tallon...

, which focuses on modern art

Modern art

Modern art includes artistic works produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the style and philosophy of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the traditions of the past have been thrown aside in a spirit of...

 and contemporary art

Contemporary art

Contemporary art can be defined variously as art produced at this present point in time or art produced since World War II. The definition of the word contemporary would support the first view, but museums of contemporary art commonly define their collections as consisting of art produced...

.

Born in Bois-Colombes

Bois-Colombes

Bois-Colombes is a commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. It is one of the most densely populated municipalities in Europe...

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, she is best known as the author of the 2002 memoir The Sexual Life of Catherine M.

The Sexual Life of Catherine M.

The Sexual Life of Catherine M. by the art critic Catherine Millet was published in the author's native French in 2001. An English translation by Adriana Hunter was published in 2002. Sexual Life was the subject of mild controversy on both sides of the Atlantic...

; the book details her sexual history, from childhood masturbation

Masturbation

Masturbation refers to sexual stimulation of a person's own genitals, usually to the point of orgasm. The stimulation can be performed manually, by use of objects or tools, or by some combination of these methods. Masturbation is a common form of autoeroticism...

 to an adult fascination with group sex

Group sex

Group sex is sexual behavior involving more than two participants. Group sex can occur amongst people of all sexual orientations and genders...

. The book was reviewed by Edmund White

Edmund White

Edmund Valentine White III is an American author and literary critic. He is a member of the faculty of Princeton University's Program in Creative Writing.- Life and work :...

 as "the most explicit book about sex ever written by a woman".

In 2008 she published a sequel of sorts called Jour de Souffrance, translated to English in 2009 as Jealousy: The Other Life of Catherine M.

She is married to the poet and novelist Jacques Henric. http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/biography/story/0,6000,718044,00.html

External links

• Books That Changed My Life PEN World Voices at the New York Public Library May 4, 2008
• Guardian Unlimited Book: Interview, Catherine Millet