In Koli Jean Bofane (born 24 October 1954 in Mbandaka in what is now the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

) is a Congolese writer.

Life and work

Bofane was born in Équateur province in 1954; his mother left his father for a Belgian settler and he grew up mainly on his stepfather's coffee plantation.Nicholas Michel, ''The Africa Report''
Author profile: In Koli Jean Bofane
/ref> After independence in 1960, they lost everything and had to leave the country for their safety, travelling to

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

from where Bofane made constant return trips to the Congo as he grew up. He established himself in

Kinshasa Kinshasa (; ; ln, Kinsásá), formerly Léopoldville ( nl, Leopoldstad), is the capital and largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Once a site of fishing and trading villages situated along the Congo River, Kinshasa is now one o ...

where he worked in advertising and founded a publishing company, Les Publications de l'Exocet. He finally left the country permanently in 1993, settling in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

. His first book, a children's story published in 1996, won a major Belgian literary prize and he went to win acclaim with his first novel, ''Mathematiques Congolaises'' in 2008.

Bibliography

* ''Pourquoi le lion n'est plus le roi des animaux'', Gallimard, 1996 * ''Bibi et les Canards'', 2000 * ''Mathématiques congolaises'', Actes Sud, 2008 * ''Congo Inc. : Le testament de Bismarck'', Actes Sud, 2014,

Grand prix du roman métis The Grand prix du roman métis is a French literary award established in 2010 by the city of Saint-Denis-de-La Réunion. Jury The jury comes from the book world and includes the winners of the previous year’s award. List of winners Gr ...

References

1954 births Democratic Republic of the Congo novelists 20th-century novelists Living people 21st-century Democratic Republic of the Congo people {{DRCongo-writer-stub