Véronique Tadjo

NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY HARPER’S BAZAAR BOSTON GLOBE SUMMER READING PICK NAMED A MOST-ANTICIPATED READ OF THE YEAR BY MS. MAGAZINE Drawing on real accounts of the Ebola outbreak that devastated West Africa, this poignant, timely fable reflects on both the strength and the fragility of life and humanity’s place in the world. Two boys venture from their village to hunt in a nearby forest, where they shoot down bats with glee, and cook their prey over an open fire. Within a month, they are dead, bodies ravaged by an insidious disease that neither the local healer’s potions nor the medical team’s treatments could cure. Compounding the family’s grief, experts warn against touching the sick. But this caution comes too late: the virus spreads rapidly, and the boys’ father is barely able to send his eldest daughter away for a chance at survival. In a series of moving snapshots, Véronique Tadjo illustrates the terrible extent of the Ebola epidemic, through the eyes of those affected in myriad ways: the doctor who tirelessly treats patients day after day in a sweltering tent, protected from the virus only by a plastic suit; the student who volunteers to work as a gravedigger while universities are closed, helping the teams overwhelmed by the sheer number of bodies; the grandmother who agrees to take in an orphaned boy cast out of his village for fear of infection. And watching over them all is the ancient and wise Baobab tree, mourning the dire state of the earth yet providing a sense of hope for the future. Acutely relevant to our times in light of the coronavirus pandemic, In the Company of Men explores critical questions about how we cope with a global crisis and how we can combat fear and prejudice.

In the Company of Men

Along with nine other African Writers, Veronique Tadjo was invited to visit Rwanda to bear witness to the genocide that took place in 1994 - wiping out one million Tutsis and moderate Hutus during a hundred days of barbaric violence.

Travels in the Heart of Rwanda

The Shadow of Imana

"Je remonte le col de mon manteau usé en entrant dans ce territoire hostile. Je veux cacher mon visage, rester le plus anonyme possible. Pourtant, je suis content d'être arrivé à Johannesburg car c'est là que tous les combats se livrent, que les désirs s'entrechoquent et que les espérances s'écrasent les unes contre les autres. Nulle part ailleurs, dans mon pays si dur et si beau, ne trouve-t-on autant de couleurs de peau. Hélas, chaque teinte, chaque appartenance raciale détermine nos destins. Il n'y a pas de compromis. Impossible d'échapper à l'apartheid qui nous divise".

non à l'apartheid

Nelson Mandela

Shares tales of love, suffering, and healing through allegories and ancestral myths in an exploration of the interconnection between human lives.

As the Crow Flies

The blind kingdom

Une Ivoirienne invitée au Rwanda dans le cadre d'une résidence d'écrivain découvre un pays saccagé, marqué par la guerre ; mais les portraits généreux et intimistes des survivants témoignent de leur foi profonde dans la vie et l'homme.

L'Ombre d'Imana

L'ombra di Imana. Viaggio al termine del Ruanda

Tadjo uses her powerful and fertile imagination to rekindle an ancient Akan myth and deliberately sets it ablaze. Woven into the historic frame of the founding of the Baoule people by Queen Abraha Pokou in 18th Century Cote d’Ivoire. Tadjo explores not only the most intimate of relationships – that between mother and child, but also the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade. Ultimately, Tadjo invites us to reflect on the bloody ethnic wars that engulfed West Africa at the end of the 20th century.

Queen Pokou

Little Ayanda loves her father with all her heart. One day he goes away, and doesn't return. She is so sad that she decides she doesn't want to grow up. So she stays small for a long time, even when her friends tease her. One day her mother gets sick and she changes her mind. She grows bigger so that she can help her family. But when trouble strikes her village, is she big and brave enough to save everyone? A wonderful fantasy that will make one nostalgic for the magic of childhood.

The Little Girl Who Didn't Want to Grow Up*

The narrative of this wonderful gem of a novel weaves together a rich tapestry of characters who are both nameless and faceless, representing everyman and everywoman, to tell stories of parting and return, suffering, healing and desire in a lyrical and moving exploration of the human heart. Like a bird in flight, the reader travels across a borderless landscape composed of tales of daily existence, news reports, allegories and ancestral myths, becoming aware in the course of the journey of the interconnection of individual lives.

As The Crow Flies

"Nein zur Apartheid"

Je remonte le col de mon manteau usé en entrant dans ce territoire hostile. Je veux cacher mon visage, rester le plus anonyme possible. Pourtant, je suis content d'être arrivé à Johannesburg car c'est là que tous les combats se livrent, que les désirs s'entrechoquent et que les espérances s'écrasent les unes contre les autres. Nulle part ailleurs, dans mon pays si dur et si beau, ne trouve-t-on autant- de couleurs de peau. Hélas, chaque teinte, chaque appartenance raciale détermine nos destins. Il n'y a pas de compromis. Impossible d'échapper à l'apartheid qui nous divise.

"non à l'apartheid

"To attain some sort of universal value," Véronique Tadjo has said, "a piece of work has to go deep into the particular in order to reveal our shared humanity." In Far from My Father, the latest novel from this internationally acclaimed author, a woman returns to the Côte d'Ivoire after her father’s death. She confronts not only unresolved family issues that she had left behind but also questions about her own identity that arise amidst the tensions between traditional and modern worlds. The drama that unfolds tells us much about the evolving role of women, the legacy of polygamy, and the economic challenges of daily life in Abidjan. On a more autobiographical level, the author depicts a daughter’s efforts to come to terms with what she knew and did not know about her father. Set against the backdrop of civil strife that has wracked the Côte d'Ivoire since the turn of the century, this story shows Tadjo’s remarkable ability to inhabit a character’s inner world and emotional landscape while creating a narrative of great historic and cultural dimensions. CARAF Books: Caribbean and African Literature Translated from the French

Far from My Father

As evidence emerged of the genocide in Rwanda in 1994, the outside world reeled in shock. What could have motivated these individual and collective acts of evil? In 1998, Véronique Tadjo traveled to Rwanda to try to find out. She started with the premise that what happened in Rwanda concerns us all: “We need to understand. Our humanity is in peril.” The Shadow of Imana is a reminder that humankind the world over is capable of genocide. Records of what the author saw—sites of massacres, corpses, weapons dumps—are combined with personal stories of traumatized returnees, bereaved survivors, rape victims, orphans, lawyers faced with the impossible task of doing justice, prisoners. But Tadjo’s story goes beyond mere reportage of death and cruelty. Her poetically wrought account incorporates traditional tales, explores the spiritual legacy of the genocide, and uncovers a healing vitality as well as a commitment to forgiveness. Véronique Tadjo was born in Paris and grew up in Côte d’Ivoire. The Shadow of Imana has been translated from the French by Véronique Wakerley.

Mezclando sueño y realidad, leyendas y mitos africanos, Véronique Tadjo, autora e ilustradora de este libro, nos ofrece un universo poético en el que hombres, animales y genios se encuentran, se relacionan y, a veces, se separan. La magia de la creación y el nacimiento de la Máscara, hijo-de-la-luna-y-del-sol; la descripción de una danza africana asociada a la de una pantera; la mitológica diosa marítima Mammy Wata enamorada de un pescador; o la historia de amor entre una jirafa y un elefante son cosas que suceden en La canción de la vida.

y otros cuentos

La canción de la vida

David Koloane

Nina återvänder till sitt hemland Elfenbenskusten efter en lång tids bortavaro för att ordna med sin fars begravning. Hon omfamnas av familj och bekanta men känner sig ändå ensam och förvirrad. Hur ska hon leva upp till allas förväntningar och förhålla sig till traditioner som inte längre är hennes? Går det att återskapa en förlorad identitet? Den delvis självbiografiska romanen Långt från min far skildrar poetiskt och kärleksfullt en kvinnas smärtsamma återvändande. Det är en berättelse om dagens Afrika och på samma gång ett porträtt av uråldrig, nedärvd kultur. Véronique Tadjo är född 1955 och kommer från Elfenbenskusten. För närvarande är hon bosatt i Sydafrika. Hon har skrivit ett flertal romaner och är också verksam som barnboksförfattare och konstnär.

Långt från min far

Enligt legenden kastade drottning Pokou sin ende son i floden för att befria sitt folk. Tack vare hennes offer kunde kungariket Baule grundas och hon själv utropas till drottning. I Drottning Pokou omtolkar Véronique Tadjo denna betydelsefulla myt. Vem var Pokou egentligen? Var hon en amazon och frihetshjälte? Eller var hon en maktgalen härskare som gjorde vad som helst för att få regera över sitt folk? I fem olika berättelser, med fem olika slut, ställer Tadjo frågor om kvinnors relation till makt och våld. I en version låter hon Pokou följa sin son ner i vattnet där hon förvandlas till en havsgudinna. I en annan offrar hon inte bara sin son utan också sin man för att erövra makten. Men myten om drottning Pokou anknyter också till våra dagars Elfenbenskusten med allt vad det innebär av etniska konflikter och politiskt kaos. Véronique Tadjo är född 1955 och kommer från Elfenbenskusten. För närvarande är hon bosatt i Sydafrika. Hon har skrivit ett flertal romaner och är också verksam som barnboksförfattare och konstnär.

Drottning Pokou : Concerto för ett offer

La reine Pokou, souveraine du peuple Baoulé, a jeté son bébé dans les flots pour sauver son peuple. Véronique Tadjo revisite cette légende en écho aux bruits du monde...

Concerto pour un sacrifice

Reine Pokou

A multi-layered narrative comprising a series of interwoven short stories and poetic texts which can be read within continental Africa, the African Diaspora and beyond. Tadjo imagines an African society on the brink of total collapse yet there is no doubt that the story resonates in unsettling ways with recent political and social unrest in Côte d’Ivoire. This is a narrative of devastating ideographic power from one of the most important voices in African writing today.

Véronique Tadjo

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