Bessora (born 1968,

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

, Belgium) is a novelist and short story writer. After a career in international finance in

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

, she studied anthropology and wrote her first novel. Since 1999 Bessora has published a book a year on average, mainly through the publishing group Gallimard. Her books have been translated into several languages. Bessora has been awarded the Fénéon Prize in 2001 for her novel ''Ink Stains'', and the

Grand prix littéraire d'Afrique noire The Grand prix littéraire d'Afrique noire (one of the major literary prizes of Black Africa for Francophone Literature) is a literary prize presented every year by the ADELF, the Association of French Language Writers for a French original text ...

in 2007 for her novel ''Pick Me Pretty Sirs,'' and the Swiss Literature Prize and Prix Kourouma for ''Vous, les ancêtres.''

Biography

Because of her numerous stays abroad (Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, France, the United States, Gabon) and her varied origins (Gabon, Switzerland, France, Germany, Poland), Bessora's writing possesses a free, demanding, and unclassifiable character. Having first dreamed of being a stewardess, Bessora later attended the

HEC Lausanne HEC Lausanne (standing for ''Faculté des Hautes études commerciales''), also called the Faculty of Business and Economics of the University of Lausanne, is the affiliated business school of the University of Lausanne. Since 1911, HEC Lausanne ...

, and then the

Paris Dauphine University Paris Dauphine University - PSL () is a Grande École and public institution of higher education and research based in Paris, France, Collegiate university, constituent college of PSL University. As of 2022, Dauphine has 9,400 students in 8 fields ...

. After obtaining a degree in management and a master's degree in applied economics, she worked in finance before changing course. Following a journey in South Africa, she studied anthropology in Paris, before publishing her first novel in 1999. She obtained a doctorate in anthropology in 2002, and continued to write novels. She has been compared to

Raymond Queneau Raymond Auguste Queneau (; ; 21 February 1903 – 25 October 1976) was a French novelist, poet, critic, editor and co-founder and president of Oulipo (), notable for his wit and cynical humour. Biography Queneau, the only child of Auguste Que ...

, and

Nathalie Sarraute Nathalie Sarraute (; born Natalia Ilinichna Tcherniak (); – 19 October 1999) was a French writer and lawyer. She was nominated in 1969 for the Nobel Prize in Literature by Nobel Committee member Lars Gyllensten. Personal life Sarraute wa ...

. She was awarded the Fénéon Prize in 2001 for her novel ''Ink Stains'', and the

in 2007 for her novel ''Pick Me Pretty Sirs...'' In 2024 she was awarded a Swiss Literature Prize and the Prix Kourouma for ''Vous, les ancêtres''.

Selected novels

* ''53 cm'', Le Serpent à Plumes, Paris, 1999 * ''Les Taches d'encre'' (Ink Stains), Le Serpent à Plumes, Paris, 2000 – ( Fénéon Prize) * ''Deux bébés et l'addition'' (Two Babies and the Bill), Le Serpent à Plumes, Paris, 2002 * ''Petroleum'', Denoël, Paris, 2004 * ''Cueillez-moi jolis messieurs...'' (Pick Me Pretty Sirs...), Gallimard, Paris, 2007 – (

) * ''Et si Dieu me demande, dites-Lui que je dors'' (If God Asks, Tell Him I'm Sleepling), Gallimard, Paris, 2008

Short stories

*''7 secondes plus au nord'' (7 Seconds North ),

Nouvelle Revue Française ''La Nouvelle Revue Française'' (; "The New French Review") is a literary magazine based in France. In France, it is often referred to as the ''NRF''. History and profile The magazine was founded in 1909 by a group of intellectuals including And ...

n° 587, Gallimard, 2008. *''Bionic Woman'', ''Les Balançoires'' (Ananda Devi (ed.)), éditions Tropiques,

Yaoundé Yaoundé (; , ) is the Capital city, capital city of Cameroon. It has a population of more than 2.8 million which makes it the second-largest city in the country after the port city Douala. It lies in the Centre Region (Cameroon), Centre Region o ...

, 2006. * ''Le cru et le cuit'', adaptation of

Claude Lévi-Strauss Claude Lévi-Strauss ( ; ; 28 November 1908 – 30 October 2009) was a Belgian-born French anthropologist and ethnologist whose work was key in the development of the theories of structuralism and structural anthropology. He held the chair o ...

's Le cru et le cuit, in ''Dernières nouvelles du colonialisme'', Vent d'ailleurs, 2006 * ''Les Compagnies Low-Cost'' (Low-Cost Companies), in ''

Nouvelles Mythologies ''Nouvelles Mythologies'' is a collection of 57 texts written by authors, journalists and editorialists under the direction of Jérôme Garcin and published in 2007 at Éditions du Seuil to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the publication of the ...

'',

Éditions du Seuil Éditions du Seuil (), also known as Le Seuil, is a French publishing house established in 1935 by Catholic intellectual Jean Plaquevent (1901–1965), and currently owned by La Martinière Groupe. It owes its name to this goal "The ''seuil'' (th ...

, Paris, 2007 * ''Courant d'air aux Galeries'' (Drafts in Galleries), Eden productions, Paris, 2003

References

Sources

*"Bessora, a Writer with a Thirty-Eight Shoe Size", Adele King, in ''

Wasafiri ''Wasafiri'' is a quarterly British literary magazine covering international contemporary writing. Founded in 1984, the magazine derives its name from a Swahili word meaning "travellers" that is etymologically linked with the Arabic word "safari ...

'', 1747–1508, Volume 24, Issue 2, 2009, pp. 60–65. * "Bessora", in ''

World Literature Today ''World Literature Today'' (''WLT'') is an American magazine of international literature and culture, published at the University of Oklahoma. The magazine's stated goal is to publish international essays, poetry, fiction, interviews, and book ...

'', Volume 75, 77, 79, 81 (2002, 2003, 2005, 2007). * "Bessora", in ''

The French Review The American Association of Teachers of French (AATF) is a professional organization for teachers of French in the United States founded in 1927. Teachers who join this association may be involved in primary, secondary, or university-level French ...

'', Eilene Hoft-March, May 2009.
Bessora
at the Berlin International Literature Festival {{Authority control Living people Writers from Brussels Gabonese writers Swiss writers in French 21st-century Swiss novelists Swiss women short story writers Swiss short story writers 21st-century Belgian women writers Swiss women writers 1968 births Swiss women novelists Belgian women novelists Belgian women short story writers Belgian short story writers 20th-century Belgian novelists 21st-century Belgian novelists 20th-century short story writers 21st-century short story writers 20th-century Belgian women writers Prix Fénéon winners 21st-century Gabonese people 21st-century Gabonese women Grand prix littéraire d'Afrique noire winners