Paulin Joachim (20 September 1931 – 24 November 2012), also known as Paulin Joachim Branco de Souza, was a

Benin Benin ( , ; french: Bénin , ff, Benen), officially the Republic of Benin (french: République du Bénin), and formerly Dahomey, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the nort ...

ese poet, journalist, and editor, who later became a French citizen. He is known for his elegant language and was called "a legend of journalism in Africa".

Biography

Born in Cotonou, Dahomey, Paulin was educated in several places including

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, third-largest city and Urban area (France), second-largest metropolitan area of F ...

, France, and by 1971 was a French citizen. He also worked with French poet

Philippe Soupault Philippe Soupault (2 August 1897 – 12 March 1990) was a French writer and poet, novelist, critic, and political activist. He was active in Dadaism and later was instrumental in founding the Surrealist movement with André Breton. Soupault in ...

. After his graduation from the École supérieure de journalisme in 1958, he was recruited by Pierre Lazareff for ''

France-Soir ''France Soir'' ( en, France Evening) was a French newspaper that prospered in physical format during the 1950s and 1960s, reaching a circulation of 1.5 million in the 1950s. It declined rapidly under various owners and was relaunched as a popul ...

'' newspaper, which allowed him to follow political and intellectual debates on the eve of African independence. Joachim's two volumes of poetry are ''Un nègre raconte'' in 1954 and ''Anti-grâce'' in 1967. He was political editor for ''France-Soir'', an editor-in-chief for ''Bingo'' magazine, and manager for the African ''Décennie 2.'' He is also associated with

David Diop David Mandessi Diop (9 July 1927 – 29 August 1960) was a French West African poet known for his contribution to the Négritude literary movement. His work reflects his anti-colonial stance. Biography Diop started writing poems while he wa ...

. In 2006, he was among the laureates of the

W. E. B. Du Bois Institute The W. E. B. Du Bois Research Institute, formerly the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African-American Research, is part of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research located at Harvard University. Its main work is ...

for the W. E. B. Du Bois medal.W. E. B. DuBois Institute

Biography

References

Further reading