Alain Mabanckou

Alain Mabanckou in March 2010

Alain Mabanckou (born 24 February 1966) 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-Noire where he received his baccalaureate in Letters and Philosophy at the Lycée Karl Marx. After preliminary law classes at The Marien-Ngouabi University in 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 Université 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 littéraire d'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 French literature. Broken Glass was published in English translation in 2009.

Starting in 2002 he taught Francophone Literature at the University of Michigan as an Assistant professor. After 3 years there he was hired in 2006 by the University of California Los Angeles where he is now a full professor in the French Department. He currently lives in Santa Monica, California.

His works are published in many languages including English, Hebrew, Korean, Spanish, Catalan and Norwegian. His only books translated into English are African Psycho (Serpent's Tail, UK, 2007), Broken Glass (Serpent's Tail, UK, 2009) and Memoirs of a porcupine (Serpent's Tail, UK, 2011), but several more will be released soon. His American publisher is Soft Skull Press in New York City.

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.

Alain Mabanckou is considered to be one of the most talented and prolific writers in the French language today and the first francophone sub-saharian African writer to be published by Gallimard in its prestigious "collection" called La Blanche.

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 (English translation, African Psycho, 2007)
• 2005 : Verre cassé, Éditions du Seuil / En poche chez « Points », Editions du Seuil, 2006 (English translation: Broken glass, 2009)
• 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
• 2009 : Black Bazar, Seuil
• 2010 : Demain j'aurai vingt ans, Gallimard

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

Prizes, Awards and Recognitions

• Prix de la Société des poètes français, 1995 for the collection of poetry L'usure des lendemains
• Grand prix littéraire d'Afrique noire, for his first novel Bleu-Blanc-Rouge, 1999
• Prix du roman Ouest-France-Etonnants Voyageurs 2005, for the novel Verre cassé
• Prix des cinq continents de la francophonie 2005, for the novel Verre cassé
• Prix RFO du livre 2005, for the novel Verre cassé
• Prix Renaudot 2006, for the novel Mémoires de porc-épic
• Prix de La Rentrée littéraire 2006, for the novel Mémoires de porc-épic
• Prix Aliénor d'Aquitaine 2006, for the novel Mémoires de porc-épic
• Prix Créateurs Sans Frontières 2007 (Ministère français des Affaires Etrangères), for the novel Mémoires de porc-épic
• Médaille de citoyen d'honneur de la ville de Saint-Jean-d'Angély (Charente-Maritime, France), 2004
• Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur par décret du Président de la République française, 2010.
• Georges Brassens Prize 2010, for the novel Demain j'aurai vingt ans

External links

Official Website :

• http://www.alainmabanckou.net/