Michele Rakotoson, the renowned writer, journalist and filmmaker from Madagascar was the guest of a gathering that pays homage to her distinguished literary works.

The meeting started with a bibliography highlighting the writer's impressive career. Born in Madagascar, later moved to France and strongly influenced by Protestantism, she became a teacher of Malagasy literature and a journalist.

Her deep-rooted passion for reading and writing began during her childhood when she found solace and inspiration in the library where her mother worked. She reminisced, "I used to sleep with a book in my hand, waiting for my mother to finish her shift in the library."

Her father also played a significant part in introducing her to literature, as she said, “He was a journalist with a distinguished flair for French writing”.

Michele Rakotoson, Laureate of the Orange Book Award in Africa.

Michele Rakotoson recently won The Orange Book Award in Africa for her book Ambatomanga published May 12^th where she retraces the colonial war in Madagascar.

During the gathering she explained that the writing process of Ambatomanga was hard, taking years to complete due to limited access to Madagascar's archive documents and the difficulty of studying the colonial era.  

“Once I accessed the information, another obstacle was how to deal with the anger within”. Ms. Rakotoson declared that she had to deal with a lot of negative emotions during the process of writing. However,  the determination to decolonize the historical narratives of her country drove her forward.“With the determination of discovering our own history, the real one, not the one narrated about us, we get great satisfaction.” she revealed.   

The writer expressed her gratitude for the homage paid to her by the International Publishing Book Fair.  At the end of the reunion, she shared a heartfelt moment with one of the attendees who revealed that she helped publish his 1st book back in 2010. Today, he proudly serves as an editor, a testament to the impact of her guidance and support.