Marie Léticée’s debut novel Moun lakou (2016) was just published by Ibis Rouge Editions and was presented at the 36th Annual Salon du Livre, which took place on March 17-20 at Porte de Versailles, Paris, France. I look forward to reading it!

Description (by Ibis Rouge; my translation): Are we really who we are? This novel, full of tenderness and nostalgia, is the story of a little girl growing up in the Monbruno ‘yard’ in a Guadeloupe of the past, between memories and questions. In this environment, disadvantaged but far from being destitute, the child questions her place in this universe of lakou [la cour; the yard] or “poor neighborhood” in which she grows and evolves. She gradually internalizes the different elements that may constitute the person she will become in the future. . .

The University of Central Florida writes:

UCF Modern Languages Professor Marie Léticée published her debut novel, Moun Lakou [Inna de Yard], this week in Paris, France. Léticée’s publisher, Ibis Rouge, spotlighted the novel by launching it at Salon du Livre, a massive book fair with exhibits by more than 1,000 publishers from around the world, heavy coverage from TV, radio, and internet media, musical performances, author readings and interviews, and even a visit by French President Francois Hollande.

Moun Lakou is a coming-of-age story set in Léticée’s home island of Guadeloupe. It traces the thoughts, memories, and feelings of Camille as she prepares to travel back from her current life in Florida to the place where she grew up. Despite seeing the Guadeloupean lakou or yard as troubling and poor, Camille realizes the value of life in the lakou with its open-air games, simple but delicious meals, and a heavily communal life with family and neighbors who lived alongside Camille.

Léticée has taught French language and culture at UCF since 1988. Moun Lakou is her second book and first novel.

Sources: http://www.cah.ucf.edu/highlights.php?id=1594, http://www.ibisrouge.fr/en/books/moun-lakou and http://www.livreparis.com/fr/Sessions/21362/Moun-Lakou

For more on the 36th Annual Salon du Livre, see http://pro.livreparis.com/fr/accueil/