Koulsy Lamko
Encyclopedia
Koulsy Lamko is a Chad
ian-born playwright
, poet
, novel
ist and university lecturer. Born in Dadouar, Lamko left his country for Burkina Faso
in 1979 due to the beginning of the civil war. There, he became acquainted with Thomas Sankara
and involved with the Institute of Black Peoples in Ouagadougou
. Lamko spent ten years promoting community theater in Burkina Faso through the Theater of the Community and helped found the International Festival of Theatre for Development. Some of his poetry was published in Revue Noire
in 1994. In 1997 he co-released the album Bir Ki Mbo of mixed poetry and music in tribute to Sankara in collaboration with Stéphane Scott and Rémi Stengel. A regular attendant at the Limousin Festival International des Francophonies, he briefly lived in Limoges
, France
. He then moved to Rwanda
, where he read for his doctorate at the National University
in Butare
while founding the university's Center for the Arts and the Theater and teaching theater and creative writing. His doctoral thesis was on emerging theatrical aesthetics in Africa
. His experience in Rwanda led him to write his only novel, La phalène des collines ("The butterfly of the hills"), about the 1994 genocide
.
In 2009 he stayed, as a guest of Amsterdam Vluchtstad, in the former apartment of Anne Frank and her family at the Amsterdam Merwedeplein.
Short stories and tales
Novel
Poetry
Essays
Chad
Chad , officially known as the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon and Nigeria to the southwest, and Niger to the west...
ian-born playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
, poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
, novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
ist and university lecturer. Born in Dadouar, Lamko left his country for Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso – also known by its short-form name Burkina – is a landlocked country in west Africa. It is surrounded by six countries: Mali to the north, Niger to the east, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Côte d'Ivoire to the southwest.Its size is with an estimated...
in 1979 due to the beginning of the civil war. There, he became acquainted with Thomas Sankara
Thomas Sankara
Thomas Isidore Noël Sankara was a Burkinabé military captain, Marxist revolutionary, Pan-Africanist theorist, and President of Burkina Faso from 1983 to 1987...
and involved with the Institute of Black Peoples in Ouagadougou
Ouagadougou
Ouagadougou is the capital of Burkina Faso and the administrative, communications, cultural and economic center of the nation. It is also the country's largest city, with a population of 1,475,223 . The city's name is often shortened to Ouaga. The inhabitants are called ouagalais...
. Lamko spent ten years promoting community theater in Burkina Faso through the Theater of the Community and helped found the International Festival of Theatre for Development. Some of his poetry was published in Revue Noire
Revue Noire magazine
Revue Noire was a quarterly printed magazine dedicated to African contemporary art, published from 1991 to 2001 by Editions Revue Noire.Revue Noire was founded in 1991 by Jean Loup Pivin, Pascal Martin Saint Lóon, Bruno Tilliette, and Simon Njami. Their goal was to give high-quality printed...
in 1994. In 1997 he co-released the album Bir Ki Mbo of mixed poetry and music in tribute to Sankara in collaboration with Stéphane Scott and Rémi Stengel. A regular attendant at the Limousin Festival International des Francophonies, he briefly lived in Limoges
Limoges
Limoges |Limousin]] dialect of Occitan) is a city and commune, the capital of the Haute-Vienne department and the administrative capital of the Limousin région in west-central France....
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. He then moved to Rwanda
Rwanda
Rwanda or , officially the Republic of Rwanda , is a country in central and eastern Africa with a population of approximately 11.4 million . Rwanda is located a few degrees south of the Equator, and is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo...
, where he read for his doctorate at the National University
National University of Rwanda
The National University of Rwanda is the largest university in Rwanda. It is located at in the city of Butare and was established in 1963 by the government in cooperation with the Congregation of the Dominicans from the Province of Quebec.When it was established, the NUR had three divisions The...
in Butare
Butare
Butare is a city in the Southern Province of Rwanda and capital of Huye district. It was the capital of the former Butare Province, Rwanda, that was dissolved on January 1, 2006....
while founding the university's Center for the Arts and the Theater and teaching theater and creative writing. His doctoral thesis was on emerging theatrical aesthetics in Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
. His experience in Rwanda led him to write his only novel, La phalène des collines ("The butterfly of the hills"), about the 1994 genocide
Rwandan Genocide
The Rwandan Genocide was the 1994 mass murder of an estimated 800,000 people in the small East African nation of Rwanda. Over the course of approximately 100 days through mid-July, over 500,000 people were killed, according to a Human Rights Watch estimate...
.
In 2009 he stayed, as a guest of Amsterdam Vluchtstad, in the former apartment of Anne Frank and her family at the Amsterdam Merwedeplein.
Publications
Plays- Le camp tend la sébile, 1988, Editions Presses Universitaires de Limoges
- Ndo kela ou l'initiation avortée, 1993, Editions Lansman
- Tout bas … si bas, 1995, Editions Lansman
- Comme des flèches, 1996, Editions Lansman
- Le mot dans la rosée, 1997, Editions Actes Sud Papiers
- La tête sous l'aisselle, 1997, Editions Ligue de l'Enseignement and DGER
Short stories and tales
- Regards dans une larme, 1990, Editions Mondia-Canada
- Les repos des masques, 1995, Editions Marval
- Sou, sou, sou, gré, gré, gré, 1995, Editions FOL Haute Vienne
- Aurore, 1997, Editions Le bruit des autres
Novel
- La phalène des collines, 2000, Centre Universitaire des Arts
Poetry
- Exils, Solignac 1993, Le bruit des Autres
Essays
- Koulsy Lamko on exotic man, 2009, The Power of Culture