Véronique Tadjo was born in 1955. She is a writer, poet, novelist, and artist from Côte d'Ivoire. She has lived and worked in many countries in Africa and among people from Africa living in other countries. She considers herself connected to all of Africa, and this is shown in the themes, images, and references found in her work.

Biography

Véronique Tadjo was born in Paris, France. Her father worked as a civil servant from Ivory Coast, and her mother was a painter and sculptor from France. She grew up in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, and traveled frequently with her family.

Tadjo earned her bachelor’s degree at the University of Abidjan and completed her doctorate at the Sorbonne, where she studied African-American Literature and Civilization. In 1983, she traveled to Howard University in Washington, D.C., as part of a Fulbright scholarship program.

In 1979, she began teaching English at the Lycée Moderne de Korhogo, a secondary school in northern Côte d'Ivoire. Later, she worked as a lecturer in the English department at the University of Abidjan until 1993.

In 1984, Tadjo published her first poetry book, Latérite / Red Earth, which won a literary prize from the Agence de Coopération Culturelle et Technique. Her work was also included in the 1992 anthology Daughters of Africa, edited by Margaret Busby.

In 1998, she joined a group of African writers in Rwanda for a project called "Rwanda: Ecrire par devoir de mémoire" (Rwanda: Writing for the sake of memory). This group documented the Rwandan genocide and its effects. Her book L'Ombre d'Imana (2000) was inspired by her time in Rwanda.

In recent years, Tadjo has led workshops on writing and illustrating children’s books in Mali, Benin, Chad, Haiti, Mauritius, French Guiana, Burundi, Rwanda, the United States, and South Africa. In 2006, she participated in the International Writing Program’s fall residency at the University of Iowa.

Tadjo has lived in Paris, Lagos, Mexico City, Nairobi, and London. After 2007, she worked in Johannesburg as the head of French Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand.

Awards and honours

Tadjo received the Literary Prize from L'Agence de Coopération Culturelle et Technique in 1983 and the UNICEF Prize in 1993 for her book Mamy Wata and the Monster. This book was also selected as one of Africa's 100 Best Books of the 20th Century. It was one of only four children's books chosen.

In 2005, she won the Grand prix littéraire d'Afrique noire. In 2016, she received the Bernard Dadié National Grand Prize for Literature. Her 2021 book, In the Company of Men, won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction.

At the University of St Andrews' June 2024 graduation ceremony, Tadjo was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters (DLitt).

Works

• Latérite (Éditions Hatier "Monde noir Poche", 1984). Available in two languages: Red Earth – Latérite; translated by Peter S. Thompson (Washington University Press, 2006)
• A vol d'oiseau (Éditions Harmattan; 1986); translated by Wangui wa Goro as As The Crow Flies (Heinemann African Writers Series, 2001)
• A mi-chemin (Éditions Harmattan, 2000)

• Le Royaume aveugle (Éditions Harmattan, 1991); translated by Janis Mayes as The Blind Kingdom (Ayebia Clarke Publishing, 2008)
• Champs de bataille et d'amour (Éditions Présence Africaine; Les Nouvelles Éditions Ivoiriennes, 1999)
• L'ombre d'Imana: Voyages jusqu'au bout du Rwanda (Actes Sud, 2000); translated by Veronique Wakerley as The Shadow of Imana: Travels in the Heart of Rwanda (Heinemann AWS, 2002)
• Reine Pokou (Actes Sud, 2005); translated by Amy B. Reid as Queen Pokou (Ayebia Clarke Publishing, 2009)
• Loin de mon père (Actes Sud, 2010); translated by Amy B. Reid as Far from My Father (University of Virginia Press/CARAF, 2014)
• In the Company of Men (Other Press, 2021, ISBN 978-1-63542-095-1); translated by John Cullen

• La Chanson de la vie (1990)
• Lord of the Dance: An African Retelling (Le Seigneur de la Danse; Nouvelles Éditions Ivoiriennes, 1993; 1988)
• Grandma Nana (Grand-Mère Nanan; Nouvelles Éditions Ivoiriennes, 1996; 2000)
• Masque, raconte-moi (Nouvelles Éditions Ivoiriennes)
• Si j'étais roi, si j'étais reine (Nouvelles Éditions Ivoiriennes); translated by the author as If I Were a King, If I Were a Queen (London: Milet Publishing, 2002)
• Mamy Wata et le Monstre (Mamy Wata and the Monster) (Nouvelles Éditions Ivoiriennes, 1993; Prix UNICEF, 1993; available in two languages: London: Milet Publishing, 2000)
• Le Grain de Maïs Magique (Nouvelles Éditions Ivoiriennes, 1996)
• Le Bel Oiseau et la Pluie (Nouvelles Éditions Ivoiriennes, 1998)
• Nelson Mandela: "Non à L'Apartheid" (Actes Sud Junior, 2010)
• Ayanda, la petite fille qui ne voulait pas grandir (Actes Sud Junior, 2007; Nouvelles Éditions Ivoiriennes/CEDA)