Alain Patrice Nganang (born 1970) is an American writer, poet and teacher of Cameroonian origin, a member of the Bamileke people. He was born in Yaoundé, Cameroon, and was educated in Cameroon and Germany. He was awarded a Ph.D. in comparative literature at Johann Wolfgang Goethe University. During 2006–2007, he was the Randolph Distinguished Visiting Associate Professor of German Studies at Vassar College. He was an instructor at the Shippensburg University until 2007, and is now a Professor of Comparative Literature at

Stony Brook University Stony Brook University (SBU), officially the State University of New York at Stony Brook, is a public research university in Stony Brook, New York. Along with the University at Buffalo, it is one of the State University of New York system's ...

. His 1999 novel ''Temps de chien'' was awarded the Prix Littéraire Marguerite Yourcenar in 2001 and the

Grand prix littéraire d'Afrique noire The Grand prix littéraire d'Afrique noire (one of the major literary prizes of Black Africa for Francophone Literature) is a literary prize presented every year by the ADELF, the Association of French Language Writers for a French original tex ...

in 2002.

Disappearance and arrest

On December 7, 2017, Nganang was reported missing at the Douala airport where he was to catch a flight on Kenya Airways to Harare, Zimbabwe, the day after publishing an article on the site ''

Jeune Afrique ''Jeune Afrique'' (English: ''Young Africa'') is a French-language pan-African weekly news magazine, founded in 1960 in Tunis and subsequently published in Paris. It is the most widely read pan-African magazine. It is also a book publisher, unde ...

'', criticising Paul Biya's government for its handling of protests by English-speaking Cameroonians. Nganang was detained for three weeks as he was about to fly out of his country of birth

Release and deportation

On December 27, 2017, a judge in Cameroon ordered his release. Nganang was deported back to the US, where he also holds dual citizenship.

Bibliography

* ''La Promesse des fleurs'', 1997 () * ''Temps de chien'', 1999 (); trans. in English, ''Dog Days'', 2006 () * ''La Joie de vivre'', 2003 () * ''Dernières nouvelles du colonialisme'', 2006 () * ''L’Invention du beau regard'', 2005 () * ''Mont Plaisant'', 2011 (); trans. in English, ''Mount Pleasant'', 2016 () * ''La Saison des prunes'', 2013; trans. in English, ''When the Plums Are Ripe'', 2019 () * ''Empreintes de Crabe'', 2018; trans. in English, ''A Trail of Crab Tracks'', 2022 (ISBN 9780374602987) * ''Mboudjak: Les Aventures du Chien-Philosophe'', JC Lattès, (2021)

Essays

* ''Le principe dissident'', 2005 () * ''Manifeste d'une nouvelle littérature africaine'', 2007 () * ''L'Afrique répond à Sarkozy - Contre le discours de Dakar, ouvrage collectif'', 2008 ()

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nganang, Patrice 1970 births 20th-century essayists 20th-century male writers 20th-century novelists 20th-century poets 21st-century American essayists 21st-century male writers 21st-century novelists 21st-century poets Cameroonian essayists Cameroonian male writers Cameroonian novelists Cameroonian poets Goethe University Frankfurt alumni Living people Male novelists Male poets People from Yaoundé Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania faculty Stony Brook University faculty Vassar College faculty