Maryse Condé: Death of the Guadeloupean Writer and Journalist

The literary world is mourning. Maryse Condé, born Marise Liliane Appoline Boucolon, is no longer with us. She passed away at the age of 90 during the night from Monday to Tuesday, April 2, at Apt hospital (Vaucluse), as reported by her husband, Richard Philcox, to the AFP.

Who was Maryse Condé?

Born in Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe, Maryse Condé was a journalist, professor of literature, and French writer of Guadeloupean origin who wrote in French and was a proponent of Guadeloupean independence.

She was the author of a significant body of work that enjoyed global acclaim. She is best known for “Ségou” (1984-1985), a historical novel in two volumes that charts the decline of the Bambara kingdom of Ségou through the fates of three brothers, and was published in the wake of the “Roots effect,” the famous novel by Alex Haley that was adapted for television a few years earlier.

She is also recognized for her novel “I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem,” a tale of a slave whose English version includes a foreword by Angela Davis. In Guadeloupe and Martinique, she is primarily linked to the works “Crossing the Mangrove” and “The Life Unvarnished,” an autobiographical novel. She initially made her mark as a playwright before gaining recognition as a novelist. She also wrote novels for adolescents, particularly for the magazine “Je bouquine.”

She worked as a cultural journalist at the BBC and Radio France Internationale (RFI).

A founder of the Center of French and Francophone Studies at Columbia University in the United States, she played a significant role in promoting Francophone literature in the country. A professor emeritus, she spent the last part of her life in Gordes (Vaucluse), where with medical assistance and the support of her husband, she welcomed family and loved ones and continued to “question” and write.