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.
2003 : Les Rochers de Poudre d'or, Gallimard – Prix RFO, prix Rosine-Perrier translated to Blue Bay Palace
2004 : Blue Bay Palace (it), Gallimard – Grand prix littéraire des océans Indien et Pacifique
2005 : La Noce d'Anna, Gallimard – Prix grand public du Salon du livre de Paris, prix Passion, prix Critiques Libres 200813 dans la catégorie Roman de langue française
2007 : Le Dernier Frère, Éditions L'Olivier – prix du roman Fnac, prix des lecteurs de L'Express, prix Culture et Bibliothèques pour tous, prix Obiou, prix de la Fondation France-Israël14 translated to The Last Brother
2014 : L'Étrange été de Tikoulou, 15e album de la collection Les Aventures de Tikoulou, Éditions Vizavi
2015 : En attendant demain, Gallimard translated to Waiting for Tomorrow
2016 : Tropique de la violence, Gallimard – Prix Femina des lycéens, prix du roman métis des lycéens 2017, prix des lycéens Folio 2019 translated to Tropic of Violence
2016 : Petit Éloge des fantômes, Gallimard Folio
2018 : Une année lumière, Gallimard
2019 : Le Ciel par-dessus le toit, Gallimard translated to The Sky Above the Roof
2021 : Rien ne t'appartient, 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).
