Poetry
Parturition
Not translated into English
Bernadette Dao · 1986
Synopsis
A long poem of some thirty pages, published in a collective volume, whose title names childbirth. Neither its lines nor its movement are known.
Context
The text had been submitted to the competition of the Semaine nationale de la culture, held that year in Bobo-Dioulasso. It did not appear on its own: the cultural administration had it printed by the Presses africaines in a volume entitled Poésie, where it occupies the first thirty-three pages, with the words vaines douleurs, fureur vaine as a subtitle. Sources date this volume to 1986 or 1988; the author published a second collection in 1992.
Who it is for
In French; the text can only be read in the volume where it appeared, which is hard to find outside Burkina Faso.
Prizes and reception
First poetry prize of the grand prix national des arts et des lettres, in 1986, in Bobo-Dioulasso.