Occupation Poet, Journalist | Parents Jean-Félix Tchicaya | |
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Born Gérald-Félix TchicayaAugust 25, 1931Mpili, French Equatorial Africa (now Republic of the Congo) ( 1931-08-25 ) Books Les cancrelats, The Madman and the Medusa, The Glorious Destiny of Marshal Nnikon Nniku, Selected poems Similar Sony Lab'ou Tansi, Boniface Mongo‑Mboussa, Jean‑Félix Tchicaya, Léopold Sédar Senghor | ||
Debout tchicaya u tam si
Tchicaya U Tam'si (25 August 1931 - 22 April 1988 ) was a Congolese author born Gérald-Félix Tchicaya; his pen name means "small paper that speaks for a country" in Kikongo.
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travers temps et fleuve extrait tchicaya u tam si
Life
Born in Mpili, near Brazzaville, French Equatorial Africa (now Congo) in 1931, U Tam'si spent his childhood in France, where he worked as a journalist until he returned to his homeland in 1960. Back in Congo, he continued to work as a journalist; during this time he maintained contact to the politician Patrice Lumumba. In 1961, he started to work for UNESCO.
He died in 1988 in Bazancourt, Oise, near Paris.
Since 1989, the Tchicaya U Tam'si Prize for African Poetry is awarded every two years in the Moroccan city of Asilah.
Style
U Tam'si's poetry incorporates elements of surrealism; it often has vivid historic images, and comments African life and society, as well as humanity in general.