On Saturday, May 28, 2011, at 11:00am, Martinican writer Suzanne Dracius will be lecturing at the municipal library of Sceaux. The library is located at 7 rue Honoré de Balzac in Sceaux, France.

Born in Fort-de-France in August 1951, Suzanne Dracius spent her childhood in Martinique and later, Sceaux. She became a professor of Classics after having completed her studies at the University of Paris-Sorbonne; she first taught in Paris, then at the University of Antilles-Guyana.

Here are excerpts from a recent interview:

In your opinion, what are the links between men and women?  We’ve evolved, but unfortunately, today we are stagnating in such a strange and cruel manner. I’m angry that women are not yet able to have free reign to accept their femininity. The image of feminism has some bitterness, even for women. So—in Aimé Césaire’s style—I enjoyed inventing the term “féminitude,” so that women may reclaim their femininity in a society of men.

Marie Curie was a model of feminism. This little woman braved the prohibitions to be able to study. It is an example. We must learn to disobey! Women should also get rid of female misogyny, an inferiority complex that prevents them from changing themselves (so as not to frighten anyone, not bother, to stay in the home). [. . .] I would like a soothing process, a harmony in rapports—or contributions—which should be complementary.

What are the battles that you now lead?  Today, I am convinced it is more difficult to be a woman than to be a man. Women must be feminists and women. We must abolish the “infinite serfdom” to which Arthur Rimbaud referred. For me, gender equality will be put through legislation, because if we do not force things—as was done with slavery, for that matter–they will not move forward fast enough.

Society must understand that, if it does not respect the nature of each (man, woman, child), if it is not positive vis-à-vis the views of those who constitute society, it can do nothing. Society must also take advantage of all its diversity, hybridity, and mixes, in order to return with a fresh outlook and find greater [spiritual] wealth.

On her book Pour Haïti: This collective brings together previously unpublished texts in prose and poetry by 129 writers and poets from around the world, who stand in solidarity with Haiti. The benefit of sales will be returned to association involved in the reconstruction of libraries in Haiti, Libraries without Borders.  

For full article (in French), see http://www.sceaux.fr/fr/actualites/actualites/index.html?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=3742&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=6&cHash=ab7f3c3f1f&categorie=18

For more on the author, see her page at http://www.suzannedracius.com/