Kama Sywor Kamanda from the Democratic Republic of Congo (born 1952)
published his first book at the tender age of 15! Over the years he was to publish
numerous works like novels, short stories, poetry, essays etc. He has lived in many
European countries. He revels in literary festivals, conferences, meets, including
poetry readings. His multiple awards include the Paul Verlaine Prize from the
Academie francaise, the Black Africa Grand Prize for Literature and Master Diploma for
Specialty Honors in Writing, and World Academy of Letters, United States of America
(2006)
His published works include: Lointaines sont les rives du destin, La
Traversée des mirages, La Joueuse de Kora, Les Contes des veillées africaines, Les
Contes du crépuscule, Contes (Les œuvres complètes) Contes africains (Grund),Chants
de brumes, Éclipse d’étoiles, L’Exil des songes, L’Étreinte des mots, Le Sang
des solitudes, Oeuvre poétique (édition intégrale), 2008, and Au-delà de Dieu,
au-delà des chimères, (essay).
Studies:
Studies:
Kama Kamanda, poète
de l'exil by Pierrette Sartin
Kama Kamanda au
pays du conte by Marie-Claire de Coninck
Kama Sywor Kamanda
: regards critiques
Kama Sywor Kamanda
: chantre de la mémoire égyptienne by Isabelle Cata
La traversée
initiatique étude sémantico-structurale de La somme du néant de Kama Kamanda
by Yanick Morin
An excellent blog - as close to being comprehensive as anything. From our early writers to the current 'stars'. For so long we Africans have allowed arbitrary Eurocentric standards to sway us, but African readers are the ones who should essentially decide who their outstanding writers are, though those celebrated overseas can not be discounted. Nor should we undermine great writers who have published perhaps only two or three books, like Mariama Ba (included in this blog). Others can be incorporated on merit later on, like South Africa's Gomolemo Mokae who perhaps deserves to be included too.
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