Rais Neza Boneza (born 1979) is a Congolese writer and poet.
Biography
He was born in the
Katanga province
Katanga was one of the four large provinces created in the Belgian Congo in 1914.
It was one of the eleven provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo between 1966 and 2015, when it was split into the Tanganyika Province, Tanganyika, Hau ...
in
Democratic Republic of 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 ...
(former
Zaïre
Zaire (, ), officially the Republic of Zaire (french: République du Zaïre, link=no, ), was a Congolese state from 1971 to 1997 in Central Africa that was previously and is now again known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Zaire was, ...
). He is the author of fiction, poetry, articles and academic materials. He is also a
peace activist
A peace movement is a social movement which seeks to achieve ideals, such as the ending of a particular war (or wars) or minimizing inter-human violence in a particular place or situation. They are often linked to the goal of achieving world peac ...
and practitioner. For his contribution to peace and conflict transformation, he was awarded an honorary doctorate degree (
honoris causa
An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...
) from the Institute of Management Sciences (ISGM) and the
Universite du CEPROMEC in Burundi in 2008.
He is co-convener for Africa of the Transcend Global Network, a peace development environment network. His debut novel, ''White Eldorado, Black Fever'' (2013), is the only work that has been translated from his native French. He attempts to create awareness about the conflict and the direct effects to communities in the Great Lakes region of Africa.
Bibliography
* ''Nomad, a refugee poet'' (2003)
* ''Black Emerald'' (2004)
* ''Peace by African's Peaceful Means'' (2005)
* ''Peace through African's Peaceful Means'' (2003)
* ''Sounds of exile'' (2006)
References
Author websiteLa liste d'ecrivains africains par paysTranscend Network for Peace and Development
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boneza, Rais Neza
Living people
1979 births
Democratic Republic of the Congo poets