Bessora
Encyclopedia
Bessora is a writer born in Brussels
. Daughter of a Gabonese diplomat and granddaughter of a Swiss confectioner, she and her works have met with growing acclaim in Europe, the United States and Africa. After a career in international finance in Geneva
, she studied anthropology and wrote her first novel. Bessora has published, since 1999, a text a year on average, mainly in the group Gallimard. Her books have been translated into several languages.
Having dreamed to be a stewardess, Bessora makes the school of the High commercial studies in Lausanne (Switzerland), then the Paris IX Dauphine university in Paris.
After a degree in management and a master's degree in applied economy, she works some years in finance before changing course. Following a journey in South Africa, she resumes studies in anthropology in Paris, then publishes her first novel in 1999. She obtains a doctorate in anthropology in 2002, and continues to write novels. She’s compared to Queneau, or Sarraute.
She obtains the Fénéon Prize
in 2001 for her novel Ink stains.
The Grand prix littéraire d'Afrique noire
is awarded to her in 2007 for her novel Pick Me pretty Sirs...
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
. Daughter of a Gabonese diplomat and granddaughter of a Swiss confectioner, she and her works have met with growing acclaim in Europe, the United States and Africa. After a career in international finance in Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
, she studied anthropology and wrote her first novel. Bessora has published, since 1999, a text a year on average, mainly in the group Gallimard. Her books have been translated into several languages.
Biography
Of her numerous stays abroad (Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, France, the United States, Gabon) and of her multiple origins (Gabon, Switzerland, France, Germany, Poland), Bessora removes a glance which gives to her writing a free, demanding, unclassifiable character.Having dreamed to be a stewardess, Bessora makes the school of the High commercial studies in Lausanne (Switzerland), then the Paris IX Dauphine university in Paris.
After a degree in management and a master's degree in applied economy, she works some years in finance before changing course. Following a journey in South Africa, she resumes studies in anthropology in Paris, then publishes her first novel in 1999. She obtains a doctorate in anthropology in 2002, and continues to write novels. She’s compared to Queneau, or Sarraute.
She obtains the Fénéon Prize
Fénéon Prize
The Fénéon Prize , established in 1949, is awarded annually to a French-language writer and a visual artist. The prize was established by Fanny Fénéon, the widow of French art critic Félix Fénéon...
in 2001 for her novel Ink stains.
The Grand prix littéraire d'Afrique noire
Grand prix littéraire d'Afrique noire
The Grand prix littéraire d'Afrique noire is a literary prize presented every year by the ADELF, the Association of French Language Writers for a French original text from Sub-Saharan Africa....
is awarded to her in 2007 for her novel Pick Me pretty Sirs...
Selection of novels
- 53 cm, Le Serpent à Plumes, Paris, 1999
- Les Taches d'encre ( Ink Stains ), Le Serpent à Plumes, Paris, 2000 – (Fénéon PrizeFénéon PrizeThe Fénéon Prize , established in 1949, is awarded annually to a French-language writer and a visual artist. The prize was established by Fanny Fénéon, the widow of French art critic Félix Fénéon...
) - Deux bébés et l'addition ( Two babies and the bill ), Le Serpent à Plumes, Paris, 2002
- Petroleum, Denoël, Paris, 2004
- Cueillez-moi jolis messieurs...( Pick me pretty sirs ), Gallimard, Paris, 2007
- Et si Dieu me demande, dites-Lui que je dors ( If God asks, tell Him I'm sleepling ), Gallimard, Paris, 2008
Short stories
- 7 secondes plus au nord ( 7 seconds north ), in Nouvelle Revue FrançaiseNouvelle Revue FrançaiseLa Nouvelle Revue Française is a literary magazine founded in 1909 by a group of intellectuals, including André Gide, Jacques Copeau, and Jean Schlumberger...
n° 587, Gallimard, 2008. - Bionic Woman, in Ananda Devi (ed.), Les Balançoires, éditions Tropiques, YaoundéYaoundé-Transportation:Yaoundé Nsimalen International Airport is a major civilian hub, while nearby Yaoundé Airport is used by the military. Railway lines run west to the port city of Douala and north to N'Gaoundéré. Many bus companies operate from the city; particularly in the Nsam and Mvan neighborhoods...
, 2006. - Le cru et le cuit, appropriation of Claude Lévi-StraussClaude Lévi-StraussClaude Lévi-Strauss was a French anthropologist and ethnologist, and has been called, along with James George Frazer, the "father of modern anthropology"....
's Le cru et le cuit , in Dernières nouvelles du colonialisme, Vent d'ailleurs, 2006 - Les Compagnies Low-Cost ( Low-Cost companies ), in Nouvelles mythologies, SeuilSeuilSeuil is a commune in the Ardennes department in northern France.-Population:...
, Paris, 2007 - Courant d'air aux Galeries ( Draft in Galleries ), Eden productions, Paris, 2003
Sources
- "Bessora, a Writer with a Thirty-Eight Shoe Size", Adele King, in Wasafiri, 1747-1508, Volume 24, Issue 2, 2009, Pages 60 – 65.
- Bessora, in World Literature TodayWorld Literature TodayWorld Literature Today is an American magazine, published bimonthly at the University of Oklahoma. It was founded in 1927 by Roy Temple House as Books Abroad. In January 1977, the journal became World Literature Today...
, Volume 75, 77, 79,81 ( 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007 ) - Bessora, in The French Review, Eilene Hoft-March, May 2009