Events

Past Event

Maryse Condé, A Life Between Literature and History

May 3, 2024
1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
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Reid Hall | 4 rue de Chevreuse 75006 Paris

This event will be held in English.

The renowned writer Maryse Condé, who died on April 2 at the age of 90, crossed boundaries throughout her life, both in her work and her ways of being in the world. In novels, plays, and essays, she explored histories of the Caribbean and Africa in a unique and often ironic literary voice. A giant in Francophone literature, Condé was also a beloved teacher, who trained students for a decade in the French department at Columbia University.

We will honor her memory with a tribute evening featuring her friend and colleague, Maboula Soumahoro, of the Université de Tours and a current Fellow at the Institute for Ideas and Imagination, where she is working on a screen adaptation of Segu, Condé’s epic masterpiece of 1984. She will be joined by Xavier Luce, of Sorbonne Université, who recently completed his doctoral thesis on Condé’s oeuvre, for a conversation moderated by Thomas Dodman, director of HiLi, Columbia’s History and Literature MA program at Reid Hall.

This event is part of a workshop on “History and Literature: Fact and Fiction,” jointly sponsored by Newcastle University, the Institute for Ideas and Imagination, the Columbia Global Paris Center, and Columbia’s MA in History and Literature.

Venue

Nestled in the Montparnasse district, Reid Hall hosts several Columbia University initiatives: the Columbia Global Paris Center, the Institute for Ideas and Imagination, Columbia Undergraduate Programs, M.A. in History and Literature, and the GSAPP Shape of Two Cities Program. This unique combination of resources is enhanced by our global network whose mission is to expand the University's engagement the world over through educational programs, research initiatives, regional partnerships, and public events.

The views and opinions expressed by speakers and guests do not necessarily reflect the official policies or positions of the Columbia Global Paris Center or its affiliates.