… as deeply reported and directly observed as the very best nonfiction. – PHILIP GOUREVITCH in THE NEW YORKER.COM on The Rebels’ Hour Inside the invisible demi-Holocaust of the Congo. Powerful and brilliant. Highly recommended. – HOWARD FRENCH (US) on The Rebels’ Hour What Lieve Joris does is not so much field research as the literary vivisection of contemporary history. – SEPTENTRION (Belgium) Lieve Joris, who was born in Belgium and lives in Amsterdam, is one of Europe’s leading nonfiction writers. She has written an award-winning book on Hungary and published widely acclaimed reports of her journeys in the Middle East and Africa. Her books about the Middle East include De Golf (The Gulf) and The Gates of Damascus. In 1985 she set sail to the former Belgian colony of Zaire, where her great-uncle had been a missionary. The journey resulted in Back to the Congo. ‘For years we have been without a major book about Africa,’ the Polish writer Ryszard Kapuściński wrote. ‘Lieve Joris’ book fills this painful, rather disgraceful void.’ Congo became a recurring theme in her work, leading successively to Dans van de luipaard (The Leopard’s Dance), The Rebels’ Hour and De hoogvlaktes (The High Plains). The Rebels’ Hour was nominated for the T.R. Fyvel Book Award. For the French edition of The High Plains, Joris was awarded the Prix Nicolas Bouvier 2009. An extract from The High Plains was published in the winter 2009 issue of The Paris Review. Mali Blues, the account of her travels through Senegal, Mauretania and Mali, gained Joris the Belgian triennial award for Flemish prose (1999) and the French Prix de l’Astrolabe 1999. Joris’ books have been translated into English, French, German, Spanish, Catalan, Norwegian, Hungarian and Polish. She is currently travelling back and forth between Africa and China, doing research for her new book. English translations Links |
|
Lieve Joris est de la trempe d’un Naipaul ou d’un Ryszard Kapuściński, 50% voyageuse, 50% journaliste, 100% écrivain. – ELLE Lieve Joris a cette capacité rare à tenir les deux bouts du général et du particulier, de la fresque et du détail, de l'analyse et du récit, sans jamais perdre le fil de l'un ou de l'autre. – LIBÉRATION Née en Belgique et vivant à Amsterdam, Lieve Joris a beaucoup voyagé au Moyen-Orient et en Europe de l’Est, mais elle a surtout effectué de longs séjours en Afrique, au Congo tout particulièrement. Selon Rue 84 : ‘Lieve Joris a assurément l'art et le goût du voyage, de l'immersion longue et patiente qui, seule, ouvre les portes des mondes inconnus.’ Son livre Mali blues – dans lequel elle raconte la vie du chanteur malien Boubacar Traoré – a obtenu le prix de l’Astrolabe en 1999. A l'occasion du festival Etonnants Voyageurs de Saint-Malo 2009, Les Hauts Plateaux reçoit le Prix Nicolas-Bouvier. En mars 2010, elle est décoréé de l’insigne de Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres. Bibliographie chez Actes Sud Liens |
|