Édouard Maunick

Who is Édouard Maunick?

Édouard Joseph Marc Maunick is a Mauritian, African poet, critic, and translator.

Maunick is a métis or mulatto, and as such was the subject of discrimination from both blacks and whites. He worked briefly as a librarian in Port-Louis before going to Paris in 1960, where he wrote, lectured, and directed for Coopération Radiophonique. He was also a frequent contributor to Présence Africaine and other journals.

Maunick's work was based not in the more traditional search for roots to establish an individual identity. Instead, he lamented his own isolation and the persecution of his people in poetry collections such as Les Oiseaux du sang, Les Manèges de la mer, and Mascaret ou le livre de la mer et de la mort. His Fusillez-moi was written as a protest against blacks killing blacks in Nigeria. Later works include Africaines du temps jadis and En mémoire de mèmorable suivi de Jusqu'en terre Yoruba.

On October 16, 2003, Edouard Maunick received the Grand Prix de la Francophonie, awarded by the Académie française. He won the 1977 Prix Guillaume Apollinaire for Ensoleillé vif.