One of the Caribbean’s most acclaimed authors, Maryse
Condé of Guadeloupe, has won the “alternative” Nobel Prize for her writing.
Announced on Oct. 12, the award replaces this year’s official Nobel Prize in Literature, which was postponed to 2019 following a scandal
involving sexual misconduct. Condé's alternative honour, 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.
The New Academy then urged the public to choose from a
list of 47 writers, and about 33,000 people around the world voted, according
to the organizers. Condé emerged the winner from a resulting shortlist of four
authors that included
Vietnamese-Canadian writer Kim Thúy, British writer Neil
Gaiman, and Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami (who later withdrew his name to “concentrate
on his writing”).
Condé, who writes in French, is the author of critically
praised books such as Segou (Segu), Une saison à Rihata (A Season
in Rihata) and Moi, Tituba sorcière…
Noire de Salem (I, Tituba: Black
Witch of Salem). Her work has been translated into many languages.
In its citation, The New Academy said: “Maryse Condé
is a grand storyteller. Her authorship belongs to world literature. In her
work, she describes the ravages of colonialism and the postcolonial chaos in a
language which is both precise and overwhelming. The magic, the dream and the
terror is, as also love, constantly present.”
Condé has previously won literary prizes in France, of which Guadeloupe
is an overseas department, or part of the French Caribbean.
In a 2010 interview with fellow Caribbean writer
Elizabeth Nunez, published in the UNESCO Courrier, Condé said she writes about
slavery, Africa, the condition of black people throughout the world” as a means
“to order” her thoughts, “to understand the world, and to be at peace with” herself.
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| Maryse Condé. (Photo: MEDEF) |
“I write to try to find answers to the questions I
ask myself. Writing for me is a type of therapy, a way to be safe and sound,”
she said in the interview.
On receiving the alternative Nobel, Condé said she
wished to share it 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 prize will officially be awarded during a “grand
celebration” in Stockholm Dec. 9, according to the New Academy, which said the
organization “will be dissolved in December”. - SWAN
