Alain Mabanckou

Alain Mabanckou (born 24 February 1966 in the Republic of the Congo) is an author and journalist who currently resides in the United States.

Life

Alain Mabanckou was born in Congo-Brazzaville in 1966. He spent his childhood in the coastal village of Pointe-Noir where he received his baccalaureate in Letters and Philosophy at the Lycée Karl Marx. After preliminary law classes at The Marien-Ngouabi University Brazzaville studying law, he received a scholarship to go to France at the age of 22. He already had several manuscripts, mostly collections of poems, which he started publishing three years later.

After receiving a post-graduate diploma in law at the University of Paris Dauphine, he worked for about ten years for the group Suez-Lyonnaise des Eaux, but dedicated himself more and more to writing after the publication of his first novel, Bleu-Blanc-Rouge (Blue-White-Red,) which won him the Grand Prix Littérataire de l'Afrique Noire. After this he continued to regularly publish prose and well as poetry.

He’s mostly known for his novels, notably Verre Cassé (Broken Glass,) which was unanimously praised by the press, critics and readers alike. Verre Cassé has also been the subject of several theatrical adaptations. In 2006 he published Memoires de Porc-épic (Memoirs of a Porcupine,) which garnered him the Prix Renaudot, one of the highest distinctions in francophone literature. Both of these novels will be released in English in 2008 or 2009.

Starting in 2002 he taught Francophone Literature as an artist in residence at the University of Michigan. After 3 years there he became an Associate professor at UCLA. He is now a full professor in the French Department there.

He currently lives in Santa Monica, California and Paris.

His works are published in many languages including English, Hebrew, Korean, Spanish, Catalan and Norwegian. His only book translated into English is African Psycho, but several more will be released soon.

In 2007 Mabanckou’s early poetry was re-published by Points-Seuil under the title Tant que les arbres s’enracineront dans la terre, as well as a book dedicated to James Baldwin, Lettre à Jimmy (Fayard) on the occasion of Baldwin’s death. He is considered to be one of the most talented and prolific writers in the French language today.

Works

"'Novels and Compilations"'

1998 : Bleu-Blanc-Rouge, Présence africaine
2000 : L'enterrement de ma mère, Éditions Kaléidoscope
2001 : Et Dieu seul sait comment je dors, Présence Africaine
2002 : Les Petits-fils nègres de Vercingétorix, Serpent à Plumes/En poche chez « Points »,Editions du Seuil, 2006
2003 : African Psycho, Le Serpent à Plumes/ En poche chez « Points », Editions du Seuil, 2006
2005 : Verre Cassé, Éditions du Seuil/En poche chez « Points », Editions du Seuil, 2006
2006 : Mémoires de porc-épic, Seuil / (Prix Renaudot) / En poche chez « Points », Editions du Seuil, 2007
2006 : Propos coupés-décalés d'un Nègre presque ordinaire, Télérama

Poetry

1993 : Au jour le jour, Maison rhodanienne de poésie 1995 : La légende de l'errance, Éditions L'Harmattan 1995 : L'usure des lendemains, Nouvelles du Sud 1997 : Les arbres aussi versent des larmes, L'Harmattan 1999 : Quand le coq annoncera l'aube d'un autre jour, L'Harmattan 2007 : Tant que les arbres s'enracineront dans la terre, Oeuvre poétique complète, « Points », Seuil

Biography

2007 : Lettre à Jimmy (James Baldwin), Fayard

External links

* [http://wwww.alainmabanckou.net/ Official site of Alain Mabanckou]