Hélène Cixous was born in Algeria in 1937. An author of fiction, a playwright, a professor, theorist and critic, she has been a central figure in the sweeping intellectual changes taking place since the 1960s. She was a founder member of the experimental Universitié de Paris VIII, creator of the first and only French doctoral program in Women’s Studies, and she is also Distinguished Visiting Professor at Northwestern University. More than thirty of her works have been translated into English. She has published several major plays and theoretical texts, as well as more than thirty works of fiction.