The Amsterdam University Association [Amsterdamse Universiteits-Vereniging] presents an “Homage to Maryse Condé.” In the context of International Women’s Day 2025, Lucia Nankoe and Christa Stevens will pay tribute to Guadeloupean writer Maryse Condé (1934-2024) on March 6, 2025, from 7:30 to 9:00pm (CET) at the Potgieter Room in the main library of Amsterdam University [Potgieterzaal, Universiteitsbibliotheek].
Description: In 2018, the Alternative Nobel Prize for Literature was awarded to Maryse Condé. In 1984-1985, she wrote Ségou, a magnificent epic about the fall of the Bambara kingdom in the 19th century. This fascinating history of the great Mali empire sparked her international breakthrough. Lucia Nankoe will place Maryse Condé in the framework of the history of Caribbean literature and will discuss a selection of her novels. Christa Stevens will speak about the former Condé, who wrote and taught about Francophone literature before her breakthrough with Ségou.
Lucia Nankoe is a literary scholar, specializing in Caribbean literature. In 2022, she curated an exhibition at the Fotomuseum Foam in Amsterdam and published Trouwportretten – Fotovertellingen, in which a hundred wedding photos and stories shed light on a Surinamese past through 1950.
Christa Stevens is a literary scholar who publishes in the field of African and Caribbean Francophone literature. She also has a special interest in the work of Hélène Cixous, and in 2022 wrote the afterword to the Dutch translation of Cixous’ Station Osnabrück to Jerusalem.
There will be a welcome event with the speakers from 6:00pm at Café Luxembourg (room at the back, on the canal side) on the Spui, diagonally opposite the Athenaeum Bookstore. [Drinks and snacks at your own expense.]
On behalf of the Alumni Circle French Language and Culture (AUV): Sabine van Wesemael, Anja-Hélène van Zandwijk & Thom Westveer.
For original post, see https://www.uva.nl/content/evenementen/2025/03/auv-lezing-hommage-aan-maryse-conde.html
[Photo above by P. Matsas Leemage, “Hollandse Hoogte.” See original photo at https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/05/books/review/maryse-conde-belle-creole-wondrous-tragic-life-of-ivan-and-ivana.html.]
The Amsterdam University Association [Amsterdamse Universiteits-Vereniging] presents an “Homage to Maryse Condé.” In the context of International Women’s Day 2025, Lucia Nankoe and Christa Stevens will pay tribute to Guadeloupean writer Maryse Condé (1934-2024) on March 6, 2025, from 7:30 to 9:00pm (CET) at the Potgieter Room in the main library of Amsterdam University [Potgieterzaal,
