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The Prix Renaudot 2012 returns to the Brive Book Fair (from 4 to 6 November) with “Sister Deborah”, a novel full of spirit(s).
By Valérie Marin La Meslée
Published on
Aclose Kibogo ascended to heaventhe Christianization of Rwanda once again inspired Scholastique Mukasonga, Renaudot Prize for Our Lady of the Nile. The narrator, Ikirezi who became Miss Jewels, an eminent Africanist from Howard University in the United States, remembers her past as a sickly child in Rwanda and a mother who resorted to traditional medicines rather than ” white medicine “, taking him to Sister Deborah, prophetess and healer of Nyabikenke, where black priests have established their mission. Reverend Marcus and a certain Muhima from Uganda announce the establishment in Rwanda ” of the black Jerusalem descended from heaven which will bring on earth to all black peoples at least a thousand years of happiness “. Yes, but the Savior will have the features of a black woman, announces Sis…
Francesca Mantovani/Éditions Gallimard/SP