Alain Mabanckou was born in Congo-Brazzaville in 1966. He spent his childhood in the coastal village of Pointe-Noire where he received his baccalaureate in Letters and Philosophy at the Lycée Karl Marx. After preliminary law classes at The Marien-Ngouabi University in Brazzaville studying law, he received a scholarship to go to France at the age of 22. He already had several manuscripts, mostly collections of poems, which he started publishing three years later.

After receiving a post-graduate diploma in law at the Université Paris-Dauphine, he worked for about ten years for the group Suez-Lyonnaise des Eaux, but dedicated himself more and more to writing after the publication of his first novel, Bleu-Blanc-Rouge (Blue-White-Red) which won him the Grand prix littéraire d'Afrique noire. After this he continued to regularly publish prose and well as poetry.

He’s mostly known for his novels, notably Verre cassé (Broken Glass) which was unanimously praised by the press, critics and readers alike. Verre cassé has also been the subject of several theatrical adaptations. In 2006 he published Memoires de porc-épic (Memoirs of a Porcupine) which garnered him the Prix Renaudot, one of the highest distinctions in francophone literature. Broken Glass was published in English translation in 2009.

Starting in 2002 he taught Francophone Literature as an artist in residence at the University of Michigan. After 3 years there he became an Associate professor at the University of California Los Angeles. He is now a full professor in the French Department there.

He currently lives in Santa Monica, California and Paris.

His works are published in many languages including English, Hebrew, Korean, Spanish, Catalan and Norwegian. His only books translated into English are African Psycho and Broken Glass, but several more will be released soon. His American publisher is Soft Skull Press in New York City.

In 2007 Mabanckou’s early poetry was re-published by Points-Seuil under the title Tant que les arbres s’enracineront dans la terre, as well as a book dedicated to James Baldwin, Lettre à Jimmy (Fayard) on the occasion of Baldwin’s death. He is considered to be one of the most talented and prolific writers in the French language today.

Novels and Compilations

• 1998 : Bleu-Blanc-Rouge, Présence africaine
• 2000 : L'enterrement de ma mère, Éditions Kaléidoscope
• 2001 : Et Dieu seul sait comment je dors, Présence Africaine
• 2002 : Les Petits-fils nègres de Vercingétorix, Serpent à Plumes / En poche chez « Points »,Editions du Seuil, 2006
• 2003 : African Psycho, Le Serpent à Plumes / En poche chez « Points », Editions du Seuil, 2006 (English translation, African Psycho, 2007)
• 2005 : Verre cassé, Éditions du Seuil / En poche chez « Points », Editions du Seuil, 2006 (English translation: Broken glass, 2009)
• 2006 : Mémoires de porc-épic, Seuil / (Prix Renaudot) / En poche chez « Points », Editions du Seuil, 2007
• 2006 : Propos coupés-décalés d'un Nègre presque ordinaire, Télérama
• 2009 : Black Bazar, Seuil

Poetry

• 1993 : Au jour le jour, Maison rhodanienne de poésie
• 1995 : La légende de l'errance, Éditions L'Harmattan
• 1995 : L'usure des lendemains, Nouvelles du Sud
• 1997 : Les arbres aussi versent des larmes, L'Harmattan
• 1999 : Quand le coq annoncera l'aube d'un autre jour, L'Harmattan
• 2007 : Tant que les arbres s'enracineront dans la terre, Oeuvre poétique complète, « Points », Seuil

Biography

• 2007 : Lettre à Jimmy (James Baldwin), Fayard