Bessora (Gabon/Switzerland)

Sandrine Bessora Nan Nguema , better known under her artistic name of Bessora , was born in 1968 in Belgium . Her father came from Gabon , her mother from Switzerland and she grew up in Africa, Europe and the USA . She gained her first degree in Switzerland and is presently living in Paris where, having completed a business course, she is preparing a dissertation in anthropology.

With her first two books, Bessora immediately made a name for herself internationally and her books are already appearing on university curricula in France, America and other parts of the world. Both books were published by Le Serpent à Plumes, the Parisian publishing house which has some of the most exciting new voices amongst its authors. Bessora belongs to a generation of young writers who reflect the heritage and products of the French colonial history and represent a radical departure from conventional literature.

Bessora's stories are daring and provocative. Her debut novel 53 cm (1999) refers to the measurement of the rear of the protagonist, a young mother who immigrated to France and is looking for a residence permit. The author writes within this satirical framework, in which she attacks a society which has lost any sense of orientation and proves itself as completely overwhelmed with the integration of immigrants. She writes in the burlesque tradition of Alfred Jarry and Raymond Queneau. With this, as is usual in satires, the critique is a serious one: the racism of bureaucracies and a large measure of intolerance. Gallologie is how Bessora ironically labels this form of literary representation: the knowledge of the nature of the Gauls.

Her second novel, Les taches d'encre is equally confrontational. In this work, Bessora continues in her burlesque critique on racism and is not afraid of declaring the legendary colonialism theorist and critic, Frantz Fanon, as one of her spiritual fathers – naming a fish after him in the novel. She often interrupts the plot to challenge the reader, in the style of TV advertising, not to close the book.

In April 2002, Bessora received the Prix Fénéon for Les Taches d'encre.

Bibliography

53 cm, Le Serpent à Plumes, 2000

Les Tâches d'encre (The ink stains) Le Serpent à Plumes, 2000

Deux bébés et l'addition (Two babies and the bill) Le Serpent à Plumes, 2002

Courant d'air aux Galeries (A Breath of Fresh Air in the Galleries) Eden Productions, 2003

Petroleum, Denoël, 2004