Daniel Maximin

Daniel Maximin (born 9 April 1947, Saint-Claude, Guadeloupe) is a French novelist, poet, and essayist. He moved to France in 1960. From 1980 to 1989, Maximin served as literary director of the journal Présence africaine. He returned to Guadeloupe in 1989 as Regional Director of Cultural Affairs. He was named a knight of the Légion d'honneur in 1993.

Biography

Daniel Maximin was born on 9 April 1947 in Saint-Claude, Guadeloupe, at the foot of the Soufrière volcano, which he describes as "my native fire". As a child, he experienced his first hurricane at age seven and witnessed his first volcanic eruption at age nine, recalling the lava and ash as a "joyful firework display".

His family moved to Paris in 1960. In Paris, he studied at the Lycée Voltaire and wrote his first poem at age 15. After earning his baccalaureate in 1964, he studied literature at the Sorbonne for five years.

He has also worked as an advisor on Francophonie at the French Ministry of Culture and held roles related to literature and education for the Francophone Festival in France. Maximin is considered one of the major contemporary writers of the French Caribbean.

Works "Sartre Listening to Savages". Telos 44 (Summer 1980). New York: Telos Press. L'Isolé soleil (novel), 1981 Soufrières (novel), 1987 Lone Sun, 1989 L'Invention des désirades (poetry), 2000 L'Ile et une nuit (novel), 2002 Tu, c'est l'enfance, 2004 (awarded the Prix Maurice Genevoix) Les Fruits du cyclone : Une géopoétique de la Caraïbe, 2006