Gisèle Pineau

Gisèle Pineau (born 18 May 1956) is a French novelist, writer and former psychiatric nurse. Although born in Paris, her origins are Guadeloupean and she has written several books on the difficulties and torments of her childhood as a Black person growing up in Parisian society.

Early life and career In 1956, Gisèle Pineau was born in Paris, France. During her youth, she divided her time between France and Guadeloupe due to her father's stationing in the military. Pineau struggled with her identity as a Black immigrant due to the racism and xenophobia she experienced at her all-white school in the Kremlin-Bicêtre suburb. She is aligned with the créolité literary movement, and in the 1990s was among the most prominent of Guadeloupean créolité-adjacent writers, alongside .

In her writings, she uses the oral tradition of storytelling in fictional works to reclaim the narratives of Caribbean culture.