Françoise Mallet-Joris (born 6 July 1930) is the nom de plume of Françoise Lilar, a Belgian writer.
She was born in Antwerp, the daughter of the writer Suzanne Lilar and the Belgian Minister of Justice and Minister of State Albert Lilar, and the sister of the 18th century art historian Marie Fredericq-Lilar. Mallet-Joris spent two years in the America before going to Paris, France, where she attended the Sorbonne. She currently lives in Paris and Brussels, Belgium.
She has been married to Robert Amadou, Alain Joxe and Jacques Delfau, and has four children, Daniel Amadou, and Vincent, Alberte and Pauline Delfau.
She is a prolific writer who was a member of the Prix Femina committee from 1969 to 1971 when she was appointed to the Académie Goncourt.
Literary debut
Mallet-Joris began her literary career early with the publication of Le rempart des Béguines in 1951. It was translated as The Illusionist. It is set in a town that resembles Mallet-Joris' native Antwerp and treats the themes of social class and lesbianism. She followed her first work with a sequel in 1955 named La chambre rouge, in English The Red Room. In it, she continued her treatment of social class and mores in Belgium.