Koulsy Lamko (born 1959) is a Chadian-born playwright,

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others asp ...

and university lecturer. Born in Dadouar, Lamko left his country for

Burkina Faso Burkina Faso (, ; , ff, 𞤄𞤵𞤪𞤳𞤭𞤲𞤢 𞤊𞤢𞤧𞤮, italic=no) is a landlocked country in West Africa with an area of , bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to ...

in 1979 due to the beginning of the

civil war A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

. There, he became acquainted with

Thomas Sankara Thomas Isidore Noël Sankara (; 21 December 1949 – 15 October 1987) was a Burkinabé military officer, Marxist–Leninist revolutionary, and Pan-Africanist, who served as President of Burkina Faso from his coup in 1983 to his deposition a ...

and involved with the Institute of Black Peoples in

Ouagadougou Ouagadougou ( , , ) is the capital and largest city of Burkina Faso and the administrative, communications, cultural, and economic centre of the nation. It is also the country's largest city, with a population of 2,415,266 in 2019. The city's ...

. 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 is a specialist publisher of books and web material relating to African contemporary art and culture, based in France. From 1991 to 2001, Editions Revue Noire published the printed quarterly magazine ''Revue Noire (magazine), Revue Noi ...

'' 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 France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. He then moved to Rwanda, where he read for his doctorate at the National University in

Butare Butare (), also known as Huye, is a city (population: 50,220 as of 2012) in the Southern Province of Rwanda and the capital of Huye district. It is the fourth largest town in Rwanda by population. History The Belgian colonial rulers establish ...

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 is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

."6th Poetry Africa Festival 29 April - 5 May 2002: Poetry Africa Biographies - page 2 of 4"
, ukzn.ac.za His experience in Rwanda led him to write his 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. He currently lives in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...

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 ;Novels * ''La phalène des collines'', 2000, Centre Universitaire des Arts * ''Les racines du yucca'', 2011, Philippe Rey ;Poetry * ''Exils'', Solignac 1993, Le bruit des Autres ;Essays * ''Koulsy Lamko on exotic man'', 2009, The Power of Culture"Koulsy Lamko on exotic man"
, www.powerofculture.nl

Notes and references

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lamko, Koulsy Chadian dramatists and playwrights Chadian academics 1959 births Living people Chadian novelists Chadian poets Chadian short story writers People from Guéra Region 20th-century dramatists and playwrights 20th-century novelists 20th-century poets 20th-century short story writers