Tchicaya U Tam'si


Tchicaya U Tam'si was a Congolese author; his pen name means "small paper that speaks for a country" in Kikongo.

Life

Born in Mpili, near Brazzaville, French Equatorial Africa in 1931, U Tam'si spent his childhood in France, where he worked as a journalist until he returned to his homeland in 1960. Back in Congo, he continued to work as a journalist; during this time he maintained contact to the politician Patrice Lumumba. In 1961, he started to work for UNESCO.
He died in 1988 in Bazancourt, Oise, near Paris.
Since 1989, the Tchicaya U Tam'si Prize for African Poetry is awarded every two years in the Moroccan city of Asilah.

Style

U Tam'si's poetry incorporates elements of surrealism; it often has vivid historic images, and comments African life and society, as well as humanity in general.

Tribute

Tchicaya U Tam'si was awarded the Grand Prix de la Mémoire of the GPLA 2014.

Selected works