Alain Mabanckou

Alain Mabanckou is considered one of Francophone Africa’s most prolific contemporary writers. A novelist, essayist, and poet, Mabanckou was born in what is now called Congo-Brazzaville, and his work has garnered a multitude of awards, including the prestigious Grand Prix de Littérature from the Académie Française. Twice a finalist for the Man Booker International Prize, he lives in Los Angeles, where he teaches literature at the University of California—Los Angeles. When he isn’t teaching, he divides his time between France and traveling the globe. This selection of translated poems comes from As Long as Trees Take Root in the Earth and Other Poems, forthcoming from Seagull Books in fall 2021.