Michelle Tanon-Lora (born 1968) is an Ivorian writer and

academic An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

, teaching literary criticism and Spanish literature at the

Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny (UFHB), formerly known as Université de Cocody or Université de Cocody-Abidjan, is a public university located in the Cocody section of Abidjan and the largest in Côte d'Ivoire. With over 50,000 student ...

Abidjan Abidjan ( , ; N'Ko script, N'ko: ߊߓߌߖߊ߲߬) is the largest city and the former capital of Ivory Coast. As of the Demographics of Ivory Coast, 2021 census, Abidjan's population was 6.3 million, which is 21.5 percent of the overall population ...

. Passionately interested in story telling, she has created a group of oral story tellers called "Pathé Pathé" (meaning patchwork). In 2009, she began writing children's stories herself, believing that reading encourages young people to show interest in Africa's cultural heritage. Since 2011, she has been vice-president of the Ivorian Writers' Association.

Biography

Born on 20 August 1968 in

Bouaké Bouaké (or Bwake, N'Ko script, N’ko: ߓߐ߰ߞߍ߫ ''Bɔ̀ɔkɛ́'') is the second-largest list of cities in Ivory Coast, city in Ivory Coast, with a population of 740,000 (2021 census). It is the seat of three levels of subdivisions of Ivory ...

, Michelle Tanon-Lora heads a one-parent family. As of April 2020, she has three children, a 19-year-old daughter and two sons, one 15, the other 11. After a master's degree in Spanish at the Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny in 1992, she earned a doctorate in literature at the

University of Burgundy The University of Burgundy Europe (, UBE; formerly known as University of Dijon) is a public university located in Dijon, France. The University of Burgundy Europe is situated on a large campus (more than 150 ha) in the eastern part of Dijon cal ...

in 1999 with a thesis titled ''La dynamique textuelle chez Alberto Insúa : transcription, analyse poétique et critique génétique de Ha llegado el día''. In 2007, she was appointed Vice-Dean of Research at the Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny, specializing in literary criticism. Her teaching also covers Spanish literature and social communication. At the university's UFR ICA (Information, Communication and Arts) department, she covers oral story telling and popular African games. Lora tries to encourage children and young people to show interest in reading and story telling by arranging workshops and training programmes. In 2009, she established Pathé-Pathé, an initiative specially devoted to promoting story telling in schools throughout the world. In 2009, she began writing children's stories herself, believing that reading encourages young people to show interest in Africa's cultural heritage. Since 2011, she has been vice-president of the Ivorian Writers' Association. Thanks to her Lec'TOUR project, Lora has introduced mobile library visits to kindergartens and primary school in urban and rural disadvantages areas.

Awards

Since she began publishing her own stories for children, Lora has won a number of awards, including: *2015: second prize from the National Library of Ivory Coast for youth literature *2017: second Excellence Award for Literature from the Ivorian government *2017: Jeanne de Cavally Award for youth literature

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lora, Michelle 1968 births Living people People from Bouaké Ivorian children's writers Ivorian women children's writers Academic staff of Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny alumni University of Burgundy alumni