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Must-read classics in translation

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Must-read classics by Black female authors

9 classics to celebrate women in translation

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Crossing the Mangrove

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'An extraordinary storyteller' Bernardine Evaristo 
 
'People say that on the first night Francis Sancher spent in Rivière au Sel the wind in its temper screamed down from the mountains...' 
 
Francis Sancher always said he would come to an unnatural end. So when this handsome newcomer to the Guadeloupean village of Rivière au Sel is found dead, face down in the mud, no one is particularly surprised. Loved by some - especially women - and reviled by others, Francis was an enigmatic figure. Where did he come from? What caused his strange nocturnal wanderings? What devils haunted him? As the villagers come to pay their respects, they each reveal another piece of the mystery behind his life and death - and their own buried secrets and stories come to light. 
 
'The grand queen, the empress, of Caribbean literature' Fiammetta Rocco, Guardian

The grand queen, the empress, of Caribbean literature

Maryse Condé's prodigious fictional universes are founded on a radical and generative disregard for boundaries based on geography, religion, history, race, and gender

A story of life in all its flavours  . . . a fluid, mobile narrative, passing easily from person to person. Fascinating and beautiful

A treasure of world literature, writing from the center of the African diaspora with brilliance and a profound understanding of all humanity

Condé writes elegantly in a style that beautifully survives translation from the French. . . She gives readers a flavor of the French and Creole stew that is the Guadeloupan tongue.  In so doing, Conde conveys the many subtle distinctions of color, class, and language that made up this society

Maryse Condé was born at Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe, in 1937 and spent most of her life in West Africa (Guinea, Ghana and Senegal), France and the US, where she taught at the University of California, Berkeley, UCLA and Columbia. The publication of her bestselling third novel, Segu (1984), established her pre-eminent position among Caribbean writers. She won Le Grand Prix Littéraire de la Femme in 1986 as well as Le Prix de L'Académie Française in 1988 and was shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize in 2015. In 2018 she was awarded the alternative Nobel prize for literature and described as a 'grand storyteller who belongs to world literature'.

Francis Sancher, a handsome outsider, loved by some and reviled by others, is found dead, face down in the mud on a path outside Riviere au Sel, a small village in Guadeloupe. No one is particularly surprised since Sancher, a secretive and melancholy man, had often predicted an unnatural death for himself. As the villagers come to pay their respects, they each reveal another piece of the mystery behind his life and death. 
 
Like pieces of an elaborate puzzle, their memories interlock to create a rich and intriguing portrait of a man and a community. A beautifully crafted, Rashomon-like novel, this gripping story, first published in France in 1989, is imbued with all the nuances and traditions of Caribbean culture.

Penguin Modern Classics

Segu

'Maryse Condé is an extraordinary storyteller who brings the history of an African kingdom alive as vividly as if it existed today. . . This is a great novel: unputdownable and unforgettable' Bernardine Evaristo 
 
Winner of the Alternative Nobel Prize for Literature 2018 
 
The bestselling epic novel of family, treachery, rivalry, religious fervour and the turbulent fate of a royal African dynasty 
 
It is 1797 and the African kingdom of Segu, born of blood and violence, is at the height of its power. Yet Dousika Traore, the king's most trusted advisor, feels nothing but dread. Change is coming. From the East, a new religion, Islam. From the West, the slave trade. These forces will tear his country, his village and the lives of his beloved sons apart, in Maryse Condé's glittering epic. 
 
 
'Rich and colorful and glorious. It sprawls over continents and centuries to find its way into the reader's heart' - Maya Angelou 
 
'A stunning reaffirmation of Africa and its peoples... It's a starburst' - John A. Williams

Condé's story is rich and colorful and glorious. It sprawls over continents and centuries to find its way into the reader's heart

A stunning reaffirmation of Africa and its peoples... It's a starburst

Maryse Condé is an extraordinary storyteller who brings the history of an African kingdom alive as vividly as if it existed today. Suspenseful, shocking, panoramic and hugely engrossing, the novel explores the politics and impact of external and domestic forces on nineteenth century west Africa through wonderfully realised characters and their complicated relationships. This is a great novel: unputdownable and unforgettable

If there were no tools on a desert island, I would take Segu by Maryse Condé. This generational family saga has so many layers that I can read and reread it, in between figuring out how to build a raft

Richly textured and detailed, this narrative, alternating between the lives of various characters, illuminates magnificently a little known historical period. Virtually every page glitters with nuggets of cultural fascination

A wondrous novel about a period of African history few other writers have addressed

Maryse Condé (Author) 
 Maryse Condé was born at Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe, in 1937 and spent most of her life in West Africa (Guinea, Ghana and Senegal), France and the US, where she taught at the University of California, Berkeley, UCLA and Columbia. The publication of her bestselling third novel, Segu (1984), established her pre-eminent position among Caribbean writers. She won Le Grand Prix Littéraire de la Femme in 1986 as well as Le Prix de L'Académie Française in 1988 and was shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize in 2015.

The year is 1797, and the kingdom of Segu is flourishing. The people of Segu, the Bambara, are guided by their griots and priests while their lives are ruled by nature. But change is about to come: from the east comes a new religion, Islam, and from the West, the slave trade. Segu follows the life of Dousika Traore, the king's most trusted advisor, and his four sons: Tiekoro, who embraces Islam; Siga, a merchant; Naba, who is kidnapped by slave traders; and Malobali, a mercenary and half-hearted Christian. Based on historical events, Segu captures the struggle of a growing nation trying to cope with jihads, national rivalries and racism.

Maryse Condé

True Stories from my Childhood

‘I walked in a daze of illusions toward my future.’ 
 
Deeply felt and told with an intrepid spirit, Tales from the Heart are the intimate, formative stories from the childhood of the legendary Caribbean writer, Maryse Condé. 
 
These affecting vignettes follow Condé’s early encounters with love, grief, friendship, as she navigates the pernicious legacy of slavery and colonialism in her home of Guadeloupe and as a student in Paris.

Maryse Condé

Tales from the Heart

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