L'Empire céleste

Françoise Mallet-Joris (born Françoise-Eugénie-Julienne Lilar; 1930–2016) was a Belgian author renowned for her novels exploring psychological love, interpersonal relationships, feminism, and lesbian themes, with her debut Le rempart des Béguines (1951, trans. The Illusionist) causing a scandal for its time. She won major awards including the Prix des bibliothécaires (1958), Prix Femina (1958), and Prix de Monaco (1964), served on the Prix Femina committee (1969–1971), and was a member of the Académie Goncourt (1971–2011) and the Académie royale de langue et de littérature françaises de Belgique.