Editing Régine Deforges (section)

== Life ==
Deforges was born in [[Montmorillon]], [[Vienne (department)|Vienne]], Deforges is sometimes called the ''High Priestess of French [[erotic literature]]''. Deforges was the first woman to own and operate a [[publishing]] house in France.<ref>Theodore Zeldin, ''The French'' (NY: HarperCollins, 1983), 147. {{ISBN|9780006540731}}</ref> Over the years, she has been censored, prosecuted, and heavily fined for publishing "offensive" literature, beginning with [[Louis Aragon]]: ''[[Irene's Cunt (Le Con d'Irène)|Irene's Cunt]]''.<ref>{{cite web|author=Pierre Perrone|title=Régine Marie Deforges|website=The Independent|date=28 April 2014|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/r-gine-marie-deforges-erotic-writer-who-fell-foul-of-the-authorities-and-became-the-first-woman-to-9297228.html}}</ref>

One of her novels, {{ill|La Bicyclette bleue|fr|italic=yes}} (''The Blue Bicycle''), published in 1981, was France's biggest bestseller. In 2000, it was made into a television series. A story of love, obsession, and survival set during the turmoil of [[World War II]], it developed into a successful series of seven books.<ref name="phdn">{{cite web|url=http://www.phdn.org/antisem/antision/shamirdeforges.html|title=Lettre à Régine Deforges (sur Israel Shamir)|publisher=phdn.org|access-date=6 October 2014}}</ref><ref name="google">{{cite book|title=La tentation antisémite|author=WIEVIORKA, M.|date=2012|publisher=ROBERT LAFFONT/BOUQUINS/SEGHER|isbn=9782221136140|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ykb2mOQkOeYC|access-date=6 October 2014}}</ref> ''La Bicyclette bleue'' would go on to cause a major international intellectual property court case. In the initial ruling, Deforges was found guilty of plagiarizing [[Margaret Mitchell|Margaret Mitchell's]] famous novel [[Gone with the Wind (novel)|Gone with the Wind]]. Deforges freely admitted that the first 70 pages were inspired by Mitchell's novel but the whole book was 1200 pages long.<ref>{{Cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/12/07/books/court-finds-french-author-plagiarized-gone-with-wind.html | title=Court Finds French Author Plagiarized 'Gone with Wind'| newspaper=The New York Times| date=1989-12-07| last1=Riding| first1=Alan| last2=Times| first2=Special To the New York}}</ref> She won her case on appeal, and the ruling ordering her to pay damages was reversed.<ref>{{Cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/11/22/books/an-author-is-cleared-of-plagiarism-charges.html | title=An Author is Cleared of Plagiarism Charges| newspaper=The New York Times| date=1990-11-22}}</ref> She was formerly president of the [[Société des Gens de Lettres de France]] and a member of the [[Prix Femina]] jury. She lived in Paris.

Deforges transformed her home town into a "City of Writing". It has had museums and bookshops with that theme since 2000.<ref name=saulge>{{Cite web|url=https://www.saulge.com/montmorillon|title=Montmorillon: one of Vienne's prettiest historical cities {{!}} Saulgé.com|website=saulge.com|access-date=2019-09-12}}</ref> The idea that Montmorillon should be a [[Book town]] came from Deforges who was then a local councillor. The town had a history of paper-making and her idea received both local and international support. The old medieval quarter of the town attracted six million euros of funding and now brands itself as a book town.<ref name="Johnson2018">{{cite book|author=Alex Johnson|title=Book Towns|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YN9aDwAAQBAJ|date=5 April 2018|publisher=Frances Lincoln (White Lion 2)|isbn=978-1-78101-242-0}}</ref>