Photo: Maryse Condé. Credit: MEDEF. Retrieved from globalissues.org
Maryse Condé, the acclaimed Guadeloupean author who died in France last week at the age of 90, was bid an official farewell on April 12, amidst an outpouring of tributes from across the world, and particularly from the Caribbean.
Born in 1934 on the Caribbean Island (a French overseas department), Condé studied in mainland France, lived and taught in Africa and the United States, and wrote more than 20 books over her lifetime. She particularly addressed the history and legacies of slavery and colonialism and spoke out against racism, in Europe and elsewhere.
In 2018, she won the “alternative” Nobel Prize for her work, and she said she wished to share the honour with her family, her friends and, “above all, with the Guadeloupean people who will be so thrilled and touched by seeing me receive this award”.
(The honour replaced that year’s official Nobel Prize in Literature, which was postponed to 2019 following a scandal. Condé’s award, formally called The New Academy Prize, was set up by “a wide range of knowledgeable individuals” who accepted the nominations of authors from Sweden’s librarians.)