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Howard Buten (born 1950, Detroit, Michigan) is an American author living in France. He is also a psychologist, clown, and violin player. He is the author of five novels, the first of which, entitled When I Was Five I Killed Myself, was published in 1981.

When as a young man Howard Buten encountered his first child with Autism, he was stunned, exhilarated, and consumed by a single thought: What must it be like to be him? Today, 30 years later, this continues to be the question that has shaped Buten's life's work as a researcher, clinical psychologist, therapist, and founder of a noted clinic for the autistic in Paris, France.

He is also a theatrical clown (real clown, graduate of Ringling Bros) with the stage name Buffo, who is quite well known in France. He got his start in theatrics at a very young age, re-enacting scenes from his favorite stories, along with his childhood friends/neighbors.

Buten's first and best known novel, "When I was five I killed myself", is virtually unknown in his homecountry, but has sold more than a million copies in France. He was made Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, an important literary honor, in 1991.

This author page uses material from the Wikipedia article "Howard Buten", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0