Tchicaya U Tam'si

Tchicaya U Tam'si
Born Gérald-Félix Tchicaya
(1931-08-25)August 25, 1931
Mpili, French Equatorial Africa (now Republic of the Congo)
Died April 22, 1988(1988-04-22)
Occupation Poet, Journalist

Tchicaya U Tam'si (25 August 1931 - 22 April 1988 ) was a Congolese author born Gérald-Félix Tchicaya; his pen name means "small paper that speaks for a country" in Kikongo.

Life

Born in Mpili, near Brazzaville, French Equatorial Africa (now Congo) 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.[1]

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.

Selected works

References

  1. "Tchicaya U Tam’si. Congolese poet", Encyclopædia Britannica.


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