14 Facts About Alain Mabanckou

Alain Mabanckou was born on 24 February 1966 and is a novelist, journalist, poet, and academic, a French citizen born in the Republic of the Congo, he is currently a Professor of Literature at UCLA.

Alain Mabanckou is best known for his novels and non-fiction writing depicting the experience of contemporary Africa and the African diaspora in France, including Broken Glass and the Prix Renaudot-winning Memoirs of a Porcupine.

Alain Mabanckou is among the best known and most successful writers in the French language, and one of the best known African writers in France.

Alain Mabanckou has argued against the idea that African and Caribbean writers should focus on their local realities in order to serve and express their communities.

Alain Mabanckou further contends that categories such as nation, race, and territory fall short of encapsulating reality, and urges writers to create works that deal with issues beyond these subjects.

Alain Mabanckou spent his childhood in the coastal city of Pointe-Noire, where he received his baccalaureate in Letters and Philosophy at the Lycee Karl Marx.

Alain Mabanckou already had several manuscripts to his name, mostly collections of poems, which he began publishing three years later.

Alain Mabanckou dedicated himself increasingly to writing after the publication of his first novel, Bleu-Blanc-Rouge, which won him the Grand prix litteraire d'Afrique noire in 1999.

Alain Mabanckou is best known for his fiction, notably Verre casse, a comic novel centred on a Congolese former teacher and life in the bar he now frequents.

Alain Mabanckou's 2009 novel, Black Bazar, is a dark comic story set in Jip's, a Paris Afro-Cuban bar once frequented by Alain Mabanckou, portraying the lives of characters from the various African diasporas of France.

Alain Mabanckou's work has been translated and published in 15 languages, including several books in English.

In 2002, Alain Mabanckou went to teach Francophone Literature at the University of Michigan as an assistant professor.

Alain Mabanckou was appointed visiting professor at the College de France for 2016.

Alain Mabanckou is the founder of the musical project Black Bazar.