Philippe Grimbert

Philippe Grimbert is a French writer and psychoanalyst born in Paris in 1948. Working both in the clinic and in literature, he belongs to the Lacanian psychoanalytic tradition and is known for bringing psychoanalytic theory together with personal storytelling.

After completing his psychology studies in 1968, he underwent a Lacanian-oriented analysis before opening his own practice in Paris. He also worked in two medico-educational institutions in Asnières and Colombes, caring for autistic or psychotic adolescents. Alongside his clinical work he wrote essays such as Psychanalyse de la chanson (1996) and Pas de fumée sans Freud (1999), and a biographical novel about the dancer Rudolf Nureyev.

His literary breakthrough came with La Petite Robe de Paul (2001). His best-known novel, however, is Un secret (2004), which won the Elle readers' prize and the Goncourt des lycéens, and which Claude Miller adapted for the cinema in 2007 with Patrick Bruel and Cécile de France.