| Guest of the ilb 2001
Véronique Tadjo was born in Paris in 1955.
She grew up in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, her father’s homeland. She
studied Literature at the University of Abidjan and completed her
doctorate in Afro-American Literature and Culture at the
Sorbonne. In 1983 she attended Howard University in Washington,
D.C., on a Fulbright Scholarship, then taught at the University of
Abidjan until 1993. Following periods in Paris, Lagos, Mexico
City and Nairobi, she now lives in London with her husband and two
children.
In 1984 Tadjo published her first volume of poetry, 'Latérite',
which received the Agence de Coopération Culturelle et Technique (ACCT)
literary prize. This was followed by three novels, 'Le Royaume
aveugle' (1991), 'A vol d’oiseau' (1992) and 'Champs de bataille et
d’amour' (1999). Her children’s books, which she partly
illustrates herself, have made her known to a wider readership.
She has also held writing and illustrating workshops for young people
in Mali, Benin, Chad, Haiti and Mauritius.
In summer 1998 Tadjo participated in the 'Rwanda: écrire par devoir
de mémoire' writing project inspired by Nocky Djedanoum. This
broke the silence of African intellectuals on the subject of the 1994
genocide in Rwanda, in which around 30,000 Hutus and almost one million
Tutsis were massacred. Ten African authors, a sculptor and a
director gathered in Kigali to reflect on the events. They
visited sites of the atrocities and memorials and spoke to
survivors. Tadjo spontaneously decided to conduct writing
workshops there. 'L’Ombre d’Imana', published in 2000, is Tadjo’s
artistic contribution to overcoming Rwanda’s past. Written in the
style of a travel diary, this prose volume combines intensely personal
impressions and thoughts with authentic and fictional accounts by
killers and victims. One of the basic concepts behind the project
was the idea that fiction is the best medium to keep the events alive
in people’s memories. "During my first visit to Rwanda I
stuck to the facts. When I returned, I read the texts of
historians and journalists. After that I wanted to give fiction a
chance to make a statement", the author explains. "That gives you
more freedom. I let my imagination run wild and tried to recreate
the emotions which had been lost in the academic statements and
investigators’ attempts to explain what happened."
© international literature festival berlin
Véronique Tadjo online: www.veroniquetadjo.com | 
