Some authors of yesterday and today
Let's start with Raymond Jacquet, journalist, novelist and essayist born in Paris on September 28, 1917. His planned stopover in Tahiti lasted several weeks, but was extended by several years. His stay on the island enabled him to found the first independent newspaper in French Polynesia, the Courrier des EFO. To make the native population more aware of political realities, he denounced, among other things, the abuses committed by colonial administrators. He wrote many novels under different pseudonyms: Jean-Raymond Jaureguia, Vaema Teikimatua, Nicolas Champel, or under his journalist pseudonym Ambroise Yxemerry. His novels include Marins en campagne (1941), Services à la mer (1941), L'Ange et la femme (1946), Une fille dans les vignes (1956) and La Tavana (1985). Raymond Jacquet is considered a visionary.
Let's turn now to Taaria Walker, also known as Pare, born on the island of Rurutu in 1930. In 1999, she wrote a book, Mémoires d'avenir d'une île australe, in which she evokes the customs of her island, past and present. Legends and history blend brilliantly with her own memories. It's a true literary testimonial constructed like a patchwork quilt, a book that has since become a staple of Polynesian literature.
The first half of the 20th century also saw the birth of Marie-Claude Tessier, born in Hyères in 1939 to a Tahitian father. Her life was made up of travels, departures and returns to Papeete. In the 1980s, while working for UNICEF, she wrote bilingual French-English books on health education in schools. At the same time, she wrote a biography of the painter Nicolaï Michoutouchkine, but it was above all in the late 1990s that she began her literary life. She first became involved in promoting local literature with the creation of the magazine Litterama'ohi, and then, in 2004, published her autobiographical novel Hutu Painu: Tahiti, racines et déchirements. In it, she recounts her life as a little girl of mixed race who had to adapt to different ways of life. In 2006, she published the novel Atea Roa, Voyages inattendus, in which humor and tenderness meet on the way to the beloved Pacific!
Women are certainly not forgotten in French Polynesia , as evidenced by the work of Flora Aurima-Devatine. Born in 1942 on the Tahitian peninsula of Tautira, she is a member of the Tahitian Academy and has worked as a teacher, researcher and writer. Her works include traditional poems in Tahitian and others in French. For those wishing to discover her work, Vaitiare, Humeurs (1980), Tergiversations et rêveries de l'écriture orale (1998) and Au vent de la piroguière (2017), for which she was awarded the Académie française's Prix Heredia, are well worth a read.
We could also mention Louise Peltzer, born in 1946 on the island of Huahine. A doctor of linguistics and university professor, she has been Minister of Culture and Higher Education since 1998. In 1985, she wrote Légendes Tahitiennes and a poetry collection Chant-Le besoin de lumière (Pehepehe - Te Hia'ai-ao). In 1993, she published another collection entitled Chant - La persévérance dans l'effort(Pehepehe - Tutava). Two years later, Hymnes à mon île was published in French. The same year saw the publication of her greatest work, Lettre à Poutaveri. This historical novel - a tribute to Bougainville - depicts the arrival of missionaries in Tahiti, and also evokes the transition from oral to written language.
We should also mention metropolitan France's Chantal Kerdilès and her novels Itinéraire polynésien (1995), Voyance sous les Tropiques (1997) and Yucca City Blues (2004). The author finds her inspiration in Tahiti and Polynesia in general.
Rai Chaze, known as Michou Chaze - also in love with her island - was born in Papeete in 1950 to a metropolitan father and a Tahitian mother. Her short-story collections include Vai la rivière au ciel sans nuages (1990); Où vont les oiseaux quand il pleut (2000); La Ballade de Hambo (2000) and her poetry collection Toriri (2000). Raised as a Tahitian, her writings are tinged with sadness and regret for the Tahiti she knew.
L'Île des rêves écrasés (1991), Hombo, transcription d'une biographie (2002), Elles, terre d'enfance, roman à deux encres (2011) are works by Chantal T. Spitz. Her writing is inspired by orality. The author also fights against neo-colonialism. She carefully crafts her writing and handles language and forms with originality.
On the men's side, we should mention Alex du Prel, born in 1944 in the United States and naturalized French in 1983. This adventurous writer discovered Polynesia during his sailing expeditions. He is the editor of Tahiti-Pacifique magazine. His short story collections include Le Bleu qui fait mal aux yeux et autres nouvelles inédites (1988), Le Paradis en folie (1989) and La Fragilité de l'innocence (1994).
We should also mention Moetai Brotherson, born in 1969 in Tahiti and now President of French Polynesia. His multiple origins run through his veins, giving him a rich and open mind. After studying engineering, he moved to New York and decided to return to Tahiti after the 2001 terrorist attacks. Although he has been writing since he was a teenager, it was in 2007 that he published his first novel, Le Roi absent, in which he writes in the Polynesian oral tradition. Like Chantal Spitz, through his writing he aims to give a voice to the Polynesian people. Indeed, one of his battles is to see his archipelago liberated.
Finally, let's mention a young author born in 1983 in Papeete: Nathalie Heirani Salmon-Hudry. In 2012, she told her own story in the novel Je suis née morte (I was born dead). In it, she recounts the medical error that left her handicapped for life, but also her life, its sadnesses and its joys. A moving testimony! In 2019, she published her second book, Sur les chemins de la vie, combining reflections on love, courage, faith and spirituality, inspired by encounters with homeless people. In May 2023, Moetai Brotherson, President of French Polynesia, appointed her inter-ministerial delegate for disability.
