
Nathacha Appanah, a Mauritian journalist and novelist living in France, has published her tenth book titled "Nothing belongs to you". She was awarded the Prix des libraires of Nancy - Le point last month and has been shortlisted for a Prix Femina.
Nathacha Appanah was born on May 24, 1973 in Mahébourg. She quickly developed an interest in writing, winning her first literary prize at age 17. After graduating from high school, she studied Humanities for a year at the University of Mauritius before taking a job in a magazine.
In 1998 she decided to visit France. She loved the country and decided to settle in Grenoble where she pursued a career as a journalist. She published her first novel "Les Rochers de Poudre d'Or" in 2003.
:Les Rochers de Poudre d'or, Gallimard – Prix RFO, prix Rosine-Perrier translated to Blue Bay Palace
:, Gallimard – Grand prix littéraire des océans Indien et Pacifique
:La Noce d'Anna, Gallimard – Prix grand public du Salon du livre de Paris, prix Passion, prix2008dans la catégorie Roman de langue française
:, Éditions L'Olivier –, prix des lecteurs deL'Express,, prix Obiou, prix de la Fondation France-Israël translated to The Last Brother
:L'Étrange été de Tikoulou,15ealbum de la collection, Éditions Vizavi
:En attendant demain, Gallimard translated to Waiting for Tomorrow
:, Gallimard –,2017, prix des lycéens Folio 2019 translated to Tropic of Violence
:Petit Éloge des fantômes, Gallimard Folio
:Une année lumière, Gallimard
:, Gallimard translated to The Sky Above the Roof
:, Gallimard
She started "Nothing belongs to you" 15 years ago
"Nothing belongs to you" was published on August 19 by Gallimard editions. The novelist looks back on the life of Tara, a woman whose past resurfaces as she mourns. A woman who, when her husband dies, finds herself having to own up to a story she had tried to cover up. A story she kept to herself for 15 years. Slowly, memories will come back to her in dreams, hallucinations and a wave. Tara will end up immersing herself in the memory of it. Trying to follow through on her own.
Tara's name is actually Vijaya. And then begins the second part of this novel. Throughout the pages, Nathacha Appanah addresses the themes of mourning, memory, the place of women, childhood, the transmission of origins ...
This tenth novel, Nathacha Appanah began about fifteen years ago. After a trip to Sri Lanka for a news report following the tsunami that had hit the country in 2004. A country that had particularly struck her.
Praise from the jury
The jury of the Prix des Libraires de Nancy-Le point was full of praise for Nathacha Appanah's novel: “A powerful novel about mourning, loneliness and memory” (Emma Navarro); "Nathacha Appanah excels in the art of telling the unspeakable and the tragic" (Isabelle Gegoux); “A magnificent style at the service of identity and reconstruction” (Marc Didier); "Writing twirls, dances, in homage to the living" (Valérie Marin La Meslée, Le Point).