Marie Cardinal

Born in Algeria, Cardinal is the author of over a dozen best-selling texts, many of autobiographical inspiration, in which the problems of the couple, of motherhood, and of writing dominate.

French writer, educator and translator, the sister of TV director Pierre Cardinal.

A Philosophy Professor, she was a contributor to l’Express and Elle magazines from 1962.

Her English translations of Euripides' "Medea" and "Trojan Women" were extremely well received.

She was the author of "The Words to Say It, " 1983, "In Other Words, " 1995 and more.

She married Jean-Pierre Ronfard, stage director on 08.03.1953; three kids, one of whom, Alice Ronfard, is also a stage director.


She is best known for Les Mots pour le dire (1975), a novel fictionalizing her long, painful, but ultimately successful psychoanalysis.

Autrement dit (1977) follows up some of the issues raised by her experience, and situates it more firmly in a feminist perspective.

Au pays de mes racines (1980) explores her feelings about her native Algeria; Les Grands Désordres (1987) deals with the problems of heroin addiction within the framework of a mother-daughter relationship.

Other works:
- Au pays de mes racines (1980).
- Écoutez la mer (1962)
- La Souricière (1966)
- La Clef sur la porte (1972)
- La Création étouffée (1973)
- Les Mots pour le dire (1976)
- Une vie pour deux (1978)
- Le Passé empiété (1987)
- Les Grands Désordres (1987).