| Intro | Malagasy writer | ||
| Is |
Writer Journalist Playwright |
||
| From | Madagascar | ||
| Type |
Film, TV, Stage & Radio Journalism Literature |
||
| Gender | male | ||
| Birth | 26 June 1967, Antananarivo, Madagascar | ||
| Age: | 53 years | ||
| Star sign | Cancer | ||
| Education |
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Jean-Luc Raharimanana (born June 26, 1967, Antananarivo, Madagascar) is a Malagasy novelist, essayist, poet, and playwright.
Personal life
He wrote his first book in his native country, but he was unable to publish it because of the political situation. He went to France to study ethnolinguistics at the University of Paris and the Institut National des langues et civilisations orientales following his graduation from the University of Antananarivo in 1989, due to a stipendium he received from the RFI.
After completing his studies in France, Raharimanana went on to work as a journalist and French teacher.
In his works, Raharimanana often describes the situation of poverty and corruption and the history in his homeland in a violent and lyrical style. Several of his screenplays have been adapted for theatre and he is the subject of the 2004 documentary Gouttes d’encre sur l’île rouge.
Raharimanana’s works have been translated into German, English, Italian, and Spanish. Raharimanana currently lives in Paris.
Selected works
His first play “Le prophète et le président” won the Tchicaya-U’Tamsi Prize in 1990, awarded by the Inter-African theatre competition, but the theatre performance was banned by Madagascar’s government owing to the political nature of the play.
In June 2002, Raharimana’s father Vénance Raharimanana, a history professor at the University of Antananarivo, was tortured and subsequently arrested following a radio program he hosted that dealt with the pre-colonial tension in Madagascar. He writes about the experience in his short story collection L’arbre anthropophage.
Theatre adaptations
| Title | Producer | Premiered |
|---|---|---|
| Lépreux | RFI | 1990 |
| Le prophète et le président | Christiane Ramanantsoa (Madagascar), Vincent Mambatchaka (Benin, Togo, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Central Africa, France | 1993 |
| Le puits | Maison du Geste et de l’Image, TILF, Théâtre de la Villette | 1997 |
| Le Tambour de Zanahary | Twamay Association | 2000 |
| La Femme, la dinde, les deux compères et la bouteille | Frédéric Robin | 2004 |
| Milaloza | Bernadette Baratier and Laure-Marie Legay (Burkina Faso, Mali, France, Niger) | 2004 |
| Lemahery et le caméléon | Fabrice (Faffa) Andriamilantonirinason and Jean Ramanambita | 2006 |
| 47 | Revue Frictions | 2008 |
| Les Cauchemars du Gecko | Thierry Bedard | 2010 |
| Des Ruines… la liesse et l’oubli | Thierry Bedard | 2010 |
| Parfois le vide | Jean-Luc Raharimanana | 2016 |
Film adaptations
| Title | Director | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Gouttes d’encre sur l’île rouge | Randianina Ravoajanahary, Vincent Wable | 2004 |
Awards
- 1987 – Jean-Joseph Rabearivelo Award for Poetry
- 1989 – Tardivat International Award For Best French Language Fiction
- 1990 – Tchicaya-U’Tamsi Prize for African Poetry
- 1998 – Great Fiction Prize of Madagascar (ADELF), for Rêves sous le linceul.
- 2011 – Salon du Livre insulaire de Ouessant Poetry Award, for Les cauchemars du gecko.