Gaëlle Bélem

Gaëlle Bélem
Gaëlle Bélem in 2020
Gaëlle Bélem in 2020
Born (1984-11-14) November 14, 1984
Saint-Benoît, Réunion
OccupationLatin, history and geography teacher, journalist, novelist
LanguageFrench
NationalityFrench
EducationLycée Pierre-de-Fermat, École pratique des hautes études
Alma materParis 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University
Notable worksUn monstre est là, derrière la porte (2020), Le fruit le plus rare ou la vie d'Edmond Albius (2023)
Notable awards

Gaëlle Bélem (born 1984) is a French writer of Réunionese extraction. She is best known for the coming-of-age novel Un monstre est là, derrière la porte (2020; English translation There's a Monster Behind the Door, 2024), and the historical novel Le fruit le plus rare: ou la vie d'Edmond Albius (2023; English translation The Rarest Fruit: The Life of Edmond Albius, 2025). Bélem has won the Grand prix du roman métis, the Société des gens de lettres André-Dubreuil prize for a first novel, and the Republic of Consciousness Prize. She has been a finalist for the Prix des cinq continents de la francophonie and has been longlisted for the International Booker Prize.

Biography

Gaëlle Bélem was born in Saint-Benoît, Réunion. She grew up in modest circumstances and has been writing since the age of twelve.[1][2] She left Réunion at the age of 17, and studied in Toulouse, France, at the Lycée Pierre-de-Fermat from 2002 to 2005, and subsequently at Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University in 2005 and finally at École pratique des hautes études.[1] In 2009 she started as a teacher of history and geography in Île-de-France.[1] Back in Réunion, she continued to work as a teacher of Latin, history and geography, first in middle school and later in high school.[2][3] She also taught in a detention center[1] and functions as an associate judge in a juvenile court.[2]

Writing career

In 2020 Belem published her first novel Un monstre est là, derrière la porte (translated into English as There's a Monster Behind the Door).[1][4][5] The novel is set in the 1980s on Réunion Island and is a humorous account of a young girl growing up in a poor and dysfunctional family in Saint-Benoît.[2][6] The novel was awarded the 2020 Grand prix du roman métis as well as the André-Dubreuil prize of the Société des gens de lettres for a first novel and was among the finalists for the Prix des cinq continents de la francophonie that year.[1][4][7] An English translation by Karen Fleetwood and Laëtitia Saint-Louber, There's a Monster Behind the Door, was published in 2024. It was longlisted for the International Booker Prize in 2025.[8] It won the 2025 Republic of Consciousness Prize, the judges calling it "a compact, comic tour-de-force".[6]

In 2023, Bélem published her second novel, Le fruit le plus rare ou la vie d'Edmond Albius. An English translation by Karen Fleetwood and Laëtitia Saint-Louber, The Rarest Fruit: The Life of Edmond Albius, was published in 2025. Edmond Albius was a horticulturist who developed an innovatory technique that revolutionized the cultivation of vanilla, making it possible to profitably grow the source plant, Vanilla planifolia, beyond its native habitat in Latin America. The novel is both a biography of Albius and an adventure novel.[9][10] The novel won the Prix du roman métis des Étudiants 2025.[11]

In 2025, Bélem released Sud Sauvage, a collection of fantastic stories set in La Réunion that pay tribute to her role models: Guy de Maupassant, Edgar Allan Poe and H. P. Lovecraft.[12] The official launch took place on April 4 at the Médiathèque de Saint-Denis, with text readings in the presence of author Philippe Morvan, set to music by the harpist Séverine Ledoux.[13][14]

Works

Original publication in French

  • Bélem, Gaëlle (2022). Un monstre est là, derrière la porte. Collection Folio. Histoire, 7031 (in French). Paris: Gallimard. ISBN 9782072963575. OCLC 1306268362.
  • Bélem, Gaëlle (2023). Le fruit le plus rare: ou la vie d'Edmond Albius. Continents noirs (in French). Paris: Gallimard. ISBN 9782073029898. OCLC 1395542660.
  • Bélem, Gaëlle (2025). Sud Sauvage. Continents noirs (in French). Paris: Gallimard. ISBN 9782073113603.

Translation in English

  • Bélem, Gaëlle (2024). There's a Monster Behind the Door. Translated by Fleetwood, Karen; Saint-Louber, Laëtitia (paperback ed.). Bullaun Press. ISBN 9781739842369.
  • Bélem, Gaëlle (2025). The Rarest Fruit. Translated by Fleetwood, Karen; Saint-Louber, Laëtitia (hardcover ed.). Europa Editions. ISBN 9798889660996.

Awards

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Gaëlle Bélem". La Réunion des Livres (in French). La Réunion des Livres, Association interprofessionnelle des métiers du livre à La Réunion. 19 March 2020. Retrieved 2021-01-28.
  2. ^ a b c d Baquey, Cécile (29 May 2020). "Un monstre est là, derrière la porte, le roman au titre prémonitoire de la Réunionnaise Gaëlle Bélem". la1ere.francetvinfo.fr (in French). franceinfo, La Première (French TV network). Retrieved 21 March 2024.
  3. ^ Decloitre, Laurent (5 September 2023). "Le portrait. Gaëlle Bélem, avoir le Bourbon". Libération (in French). SARL Libération, Presse Indépendante SAS, France. Retrieved 21 March 2024.
  4. ^ a b Renou-Nativel, Corinne (15 April 2020). "Gaëlle Bélem, une île au bord du monde". La Croix (in French). Bayard. Retrieved 21 March 2024.
  5. ^ Burcea, Dan (29 March 2020). "Interview. Gaëlle Bélem : « Un livre est bien plus qu'une juxtaposition de feuilles griffonnées »" [Interview. Gaëlle Bélem: “A book is much more than a juxtaposition of scribbled sheets”]. lettrescapitales.com (in French). Dan Burcea. Retrieved 25 March 2024.
  6. ^ a b c "Bullaun Press wins Republic of Consciousness prize for 'rollicking picaresque novel'". The Guardian. 1 April 2025.
  7. ^ a b Aubert, Gérald. "Prix André Dubreuil du Premier Roman – Gaëlle Bélem". sgdl.org (in French). Paris: La SGDL – Société des gens de lettres. Retrieved 26 March 2023.
  8. ^ Marshall, Alex (25 February 2025). "Short Novels Dominate International Booker Prize Nominees". The New York Times. Retrieved 25 February 2025.
  9. ^ LeaCultura Community Manager (12 September 2023). "Interview : Gaëlle Belem présente son roman "Le fruit le plus rare"". Cultura (in French). Fondation Cultura. Archived from the original on 26 September 2023. Retrieved 24 March 2024.
  10. ^ Marivat, Gladys (2023-09-22). "« Le Fruit le plus rare », de Gaëlle Bélem : l'esclave, la vanille et l'invention de La Réunion". Le Monde (in French). Retrieved 21 March 2024.
  11. ^ a b Masset, Antoine (29 Jan 2025). "Gaëlle Bélem remporte la première édition du prix du Roman Métis des Étudiants". Livres Hebdo. Retrieved 17 July 2025.
  12. ^ Marivat, Gladys (6 April 2025). "Gaëlle Bélem, autrice : « Ce qui m'intéresse, c'est ce qu'il y a derrière les portes »". Le Monde. Retrieved 17 July 2025.
  13. ^ "La littérature est un miroir". Le Quotidien de La Réunion. 4 April 2025.
  14. ^ "Dédicace de Gaëlle Bélem". La Réunion des livres. 4 April 2025. Retrieved 17 July 2025.
  15. ^ "Grand Prix du Roman Métis 2020: Gaëlle Bélem et Caroline Laurent lauréates". exclusif.re (in French). Exclusif Réunion. Retrieved 25 March 2024.
  16. ^ "Les romans de la Réunionnaise Gaëlle Bélem bientôt traduits en allemand". Imaz Press. 27 Mar 2025. Retrieved 17 July 2025.
  • Entretien avec Gaëlle Bélem on YouTube. Video duration 23m:21s. Uploader Romanska och klassiska institution, 20 October 2023. Gaëlle Bélem is interviewed about her novel Le fruit le plus rare ou la vie d'Edmond Albius (2023) during her visit to Stockholm in 2023. In French.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.