News
Cluster Chronicles with Umar Timol
24.04.2024
In the month of May 2024, Mauritian writer, poet and photographer Umar Timol accompanied the Africa Multiple Cluster of Excellence's activities sharing his reactions, observations and views. These are examples of the artist's insights and impressions as well as a glimpse of the events that he took part in.
About Umar Timol
Umar Timol is a Mauritian poet, writer, and photographer. He has published four collections of poetry, two novels, and various articles in national and international journals. He has contributed to numerous collective anthologies in Mauritius and beyond. His voice is regularly featured in the local media, where he provides opinion pieces on current societal issues. Additionally, his opinion pieces have been published in international newspapers and magazines such as Jeune Afrique, Africa Report, Mediapart, and L’Humanite.
He primarily writes in French and Creole, with a selection of his work translated into English, Spanish, Dutch, Romanian, Arabic, and German. Notably, he authored a text for an African comic book, "Les yeux des autres," published in 2010 in the anthology "Visions of Africa" (L'Harmattan), which received an award.
As a founding member of Point barre, a Mauritian cross-disciplinary poetry journal that publishes poets from around the world, he has made significant contributions to the literary scene. He received a grant from the Centre National du Livre (CNL) for a writer’s residency at the Festival des Francophonies in Limoges in 2011 to work on his novel "Le monstre." Active on the international poetry scene, he attended prestigious poetry festivals such as the Medellin World Poetry Festival, Rotterdam Poetry Festival, and the Trois-Rivieres Poetry Festival.
In 2018, he participated in the International Writing Programme (IWP) at the University of Iowa. During his stay in the USA, he gave a talk about his writings and portrait photography in the French department at Yale University.
His play, "Le journal d’une vieille folle," was performed in 2018 at the Caudan Arts Centre, while his photographic portraits of Mauritian writers were exhibited in April 2019 at the Blue Penny Museum in Mauritius. In 2022, his play, "La conversation," directed by Gaston Valayden, was performed. Additionally, his coffee table book of photographic portraits in black and white, "Graces," was published in the same year by the publishing house L’Atelier d’Écriture, featuring a foreword by Ananda Devi.
His diverse creative endeavors continued in 2022 with the direction of a play he wrote in Mauritian Creole, titled "Nou l'idéal," addressing the issue of political engagement. Currently, he is immersed in various photographic projects, including "Muslim Faces: Breaking the Stereotypes," an initiative aimed at deconstructing stereotypes about Muslims.
Images and Texts
Bayreuth en portraits
from left to right: Laude Ngadi, Marie Tsogo and Maryam Shojaei - Portraits by Umar Timol (click image to enlarge)
ce sont des amours fugaces, aussitôt éclos, aussitôt morts,
non pas l'étreinte des corps, cette impatience demeure impunie ...
marcher, d'un lieu à l'autre, tant de villes,
de pays, de paysages, de visages, au fil des années ...
j'habite la demeure de l'instant, ce corps
insensé qui épuise le vide, mais la mémoire ...
tout lieu recèle l'audace d'une étreinte
qui saura désemparer la substance de ...
...plus (and EN version)
que sont ces terres, royaumes du calme,
sinon la part absente d'autres terres, ...
...plus (and EN version)
j'aime les livres, d'où qu'ils viennent,
quels qu'ils soient, leur parfum, ...
...plus (and EN version)
Cluster Conversation: Umar Timol and Prof. Dr Ute Fendler
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