Fabienne Kanor

Fabienne Kanor (born 7 August 1970) is a French journalist, novelist and filmmaker of Martinique origin. She is a winner of the Prix Carbet de la Caraïbe et du Tout-Monde.

Early life Fabienne Kanor was born in Orléans, France on 7 August 1970. Her mother was a nursing assistant and her father worked in the French post and telegraph office. She obtained degrees in modern literature and sociolinguistics at the University of Orléans and Tours, and went on to study in Paris under Romuald Fonkoua. Her master's thesis was titled La Problématique de la terre dans la littérature antillaise.

Career Following her studies, Kanor took up a job at a communications company. At this time she wrote her first novel, which remained unpublished. She then worked as a journalist for television (La Cinquième, Paris Première, France 3 and Canal France Internationale), radio (Radio France Internationale and Radio Nova), and press (Nova Magazine). These roles allowed her to concentrate on fiction, and also develop as a filmmaker. Between 2001 and 2003, she directed a series of documentaries on black women, including Jenny Alpha, Césaria Evora and Mimi Barthélémy.

Between the two novels, she and her sister Véronique Kanor began making films. La Noiraude was the first of a planned trilogy of medium-length films, and it explored the trials and tribulations faced by Caribbean people in Paris. It was broadcast on France 2 and RFO, and received well at various film festivals. The second instalment in the trilogy, C'est qui L'Homme, was broadcast on France 2 in 2009. This examined gender dynamics in relationships and the position assigned to women by their male partners.

Kanor's 2014 book Faire l'aventure was praised as a "rare book", an "odyssey of disillusion", a chilling exploration of the undocumented life of an illegal immigrant and the "venomous relations between white and black people".

Awards 2004 - Prix Fetkann!, for D'Eaux douces. 2014 - Prix Carbet de la Caraïbe et du Tout-Monde, for Faire l'aventure.

Works

Novels

Children's fiction

Film and television La Noiraude (with Véronique Kanor). Bouquin Affamé Productions (France, 2005), 29 minutes. Janbé dlo: une histoire antillaise (Traverser l'eau) (with Emmanelle Bidou). France Cinq and Télessonne, 2007, 52 minutes. Ti Emile Pò kò mò (with Jean-Michel Cassérus). Paris: Productions La Lanterne, 2008, 54 minutes. C'est qui L'Homme (with Véronique Kanor). France 2, 2009.