Maryse Condé

Maryse Condé was a Guadeloupean author celebrated for her novels about slavery and colonialism. She wrote in the genre of historical and cultural fiction. Condé published her first novel at the age of 42 after being inspired by Emily Bront's Wuthering Heights. She is known for her powerful portrayal of the colonial legacy in the French-speaking world.

Maryse Condé was born in Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe. She was the youngest of eight children in an educated family. Her early exposure to education and its challenges were rooted in her family's involvement in the local educational system. Her father founded a bank and was a former educator, while her mother ran a school for girls.

After being expelled from Lycée Fénelon, Condé pursued higher education at the Université de Paris III (Sorbonne Nouvelle). During her time in Paris, she became politically active and affected by her studies in colonial history, which later shaped her literary themes.

Condé's professional career was as rich and varied as her writings. When she married Guinean actor Mamadou Condé, she moved to West Africa, where she taught and became politically and socially active. She taught in North America and the Caribbean during her academic journey across various continents.

Her literary debut came relatively late with the novel Hérémakhonon in 1976, a reflective piece about disillusionment and identity search. Many more novels followed, including Ségou (1984) and I, Tituba: Black Witch of Salem (1986), which explored the African diaspora and the impacts of slavery and colonialism.

Condé's work received numerous accolades, including the New Academy Prize in Literature in 2018, established as an alternative to the Nobel Prize in Literature. This award recognized her as a significant storyteller whose work eloquently depicted the post-colonial turmoil in a precise yet poignant language. She was also honored with the Grand Prix Littéraire de la Femme, Prix de l'Académie française, and the Prix Carbet de la Caraïbe among others.

She spent her retirement years teaching and contributing to the academic community, including at Columbia University, where she became professor emerita.

Maryse Condé passed away on April 2, 2024.