Scohlastique Mukasonga

Born in Rwanda, of Tutsi ethnicity, her life and her work have always revolved around the genocide and colonialism in her country of origin. Mukasonga settled in France in 1992, just two years before the massacre that killed thirty-seven members of her family. She has written numerous books, including her first novel Our Lady of the Nile (published in Catalan by Minuscule, 2024, and in French in 2021), set in a school in 1970s Rwanda, which reflects the division and hatred against the Tutsis which, decades later, would plunge the country into horror. Other novels include Kibogo (Gallimard, 2020) and Sister Deborah (Gallimard, 2022), as well as memoirs such as Inyenzi ou les Cafards (Gallimard, 2006), which narrates the humiliations and terror the author experienced during her childhood, and La femme aux pieds nus (Gallimard, 2008). Her literature, which draws from the oral tradition, explores themes such as mourning and remembrance, the role of the female community and education, and the legacy of the Christianization of Rwanda. Mukasonga has been nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2022 and awarded the Renaudot Prize 2012, the Simone de Beauvoir Prize 2021 and the Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres.