Tasso, Valérie 1969-

PERSONAL:

Born January 23, 1969, in Champagne-Ardenne, France. Education: Earned a college degree.

CAREER:

Writer. Guest appearances on various European television shows.

WRITINGS:

Diarió de una ninfómana, Plaza y Janés (Barcelona, Spain), 2003, published as Memoire Sexuel: The Erotic Diary of a French Girl in Spain, Amorata Press (Berkeley, CA), 2006.

Paris la nuit (title means "Paris by Night"), Plaza y Janés (Barcelona, Spain), 2004.

El otro lado del sexo (title means "The Other Side of Sex"), Plaza y Janés (Barcelona, Spain), 2006.

Author's works have been translated into Spanish, German, Polish, Hungarian, Italian, Portuguese, Serbian, Slovenian, and Turkish.

SIDELIGHTS:

Valérie Tasso decided to write about her experiences as a prostitute for reasons other than sensationalism. She comments on her home page: "There was a vital reason for working as a prostitute: to get to know myself. There was a vital reason for making it public: to show that this could be the reason to do it." Tasso's account was first revealed in a compilation of prostitutes' stories titled Yo Puta, by Isabel Pisano, and expanded into full-length form in Diarió de una ninfómana. The autobiography, which was published in the United States as Memoire Sexuel:The Erotic Diary of a French Girl in Spain, begins with a young Tasso's sexual adventures throughout Europe and culminates in her five months spent as a high-class prostitute in Spain. In an interview with Elle writer Emma Cook, Tasso explained her motivation for taking on such an unconventional career: "I was attracted to it because it was such a taboo," she said. "I needed affection and a boost to my self-esteem, not forgetting the financial reasons…. I also saw myself as a liberal-minded woman, so the idea of becoming a prostitute didn't upset or frighten me." A contributor to Internet Bookwatch described Memoire Sexuel as an "engaging and intensely personal story of unusual sexual adventure." Commenting on the book's subtitle, a Bookseller reviewer concluded that Tasso "delivers on the—ahem—‘seductive promise’ of the jacket."

Tasso followed Memoire Sexuel with Paris la nuit, a voyeuristic account of a summer spent exploring the city's shady underbelly. A third book, El otro lado del sexo ("The Other Side of Sex"), is part autobiography, part analysis of little-known and often taboo sexual practices.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Bookseller, June 17, 2005, review of Memoire Sexuel: The Erotic Diary of a French Girl in Spain, p. 37.

Kirkus Reviews, June 15, 2006, review of Memoire Sexuel, p. 628.

ONLINE

Valérie Tasso Home Page,http://www.valerietasso.com (July 21, 2007).