Dominique Aguessy | |
---|---|
Born | Cotonou, Bénin | March 31, 1937
Occupation | novelist |
Language | French |
Nationality | French |
Education | BA in Literature, MfA in Sociology |
Alma mater | University of Bordeaux, University of Dakar, Templeton College |
Years active | 1973-now |
Children | 3 |
Dominique Aguessy (born March 31, 1937) is a Beninese writer, poet, former sociology researcher, and trade union congress member.
Aguessy was born in Benin, but is now a French national.[1]
Aguessy has a bachelor's degree in French language and literature from the University of Bordeaux and a master's in sociology from the University of Dakar, as well as a management degree from Templeton College in Oxford.[1]
From 1956 to 1958 and from 1964 to 1970, she was a cultural program producer for the national radio broadcasting of Senegal and the Office de co-operacion radiophonique.[2]
Aguessy has three children.[2]
She currently lives in Brussels, where she's settled since 1973.[2]
From 1973 to 1985, she held three four-year elective mandates as deputy general secretary of the World Confederation of Labor.[2]
Aguessy was a researcher at the Institute of Sociology of the ULB in Brussels working with Gabriel Thoveron.[2]
From 1985 to 2000, she worked for the European Commission and the Association of the ACP chambers of commerce, making research trips to Southeast Asia, Africa, Latin America, Central Europe, the United States and Canada.[2]
Her literary career began in 1993, with the publication of her first collection of poems Les chemins de la sagesse, contes et légendes du Sénégal et du Bénin (en: "The Paths of Wisdom, Tales and Legends of Senegal and Benin"). She calls literature her third career.[2]
She considers her third poetry collection Comme un souffle fragile, poèmes méditations, published by édition Parole et Silence in 2005, to be primarily about hope, since she believes the focus when talking about Africa is too much on misery, as opposed to the happiness she sees.[2]
Her work often also includes themes of spirituality.[3]