#readcaribbean - (Re)discovering literature from Guadeloupe
If you're looking for recommendations about Guadeloupean literature, you've come to the right place. You want to get (re)acquainted with Guadeloupean literature, but you're intimidated by or uninterested in the classics. You want to read contemporary literature with international literary codes without losing the magic of the local perspective... I say Guadeloupean literature because I think it's invisibilized behind the expression “West Indian literature”. After 6 years of Karukerament exploration in this creative industry, and having published what I call Gwadafictions myself, I'd say that the strength of Guadeloupean literature lies in its ability to shed light on the intimate.
In June 2025, Caribbean literary content creators celebrated Caribbean literature with the #readcaribbean hashtag launched by Cindy aka BookofCinz. For this 7th year, I've been reflecting on my Guadeloupe literature journey and I thought that maybe there were people who were at the stage I was a few years ago. I hope you'll find what you're looking for in this list of personal recommendations of Guadeloupean literature. The summaries are the official ones, but please know that I have read and sincerely appreciated each book below. I encourage authors to have their work translated, if only into English, so that a wider Caribbean audience can appreciate their talent as much as I have.
My favorite themes are romance, childhood/adolescence, family relationships, mythologies of the past, the futuristic Caribbean, the history of Guadeloupe's identity... But my heart and mind remain open to any story that captivates me. Tell me in the comments about your Guadeloupean literary favorites.
Les Âmes engagées [Engaged Souls] (2021) by Cindy Marie-Nelly
Xavier's mother isn’t going well. Bipolar and depressed, she needs the support of her family to regain her balance and anchor her feet in reality. A trip to her native Guadeloupe will give her the chance to rest, and Xavier the opportunity to discover who he really is. By delving into his family's history and losing himself in the mystical world of West Indian culture, the young man ends up lifting the veil on truths that are not of this world.
Anba Véranda-la (2019) by Dominique Lancastre
Anba véranda-la, sé anbyans é chalè on tigason té ka viv chak lannuit, séré on koté pou tann listwa, kont é léjann a Lézanti. Lannuit-lasa osi, té ka fè cho toubòlman. Ton Rèné rivé ta, èvè dé sendika a-y Richa épi Émilyen. Véranda-la té k’ay viv on pi bèl moman, davwa Richa é Émilyen té konnèt otan listwa ki ton Rèné. Boutèy-wonm-la té toujou byen la asi tab-la, kon pou bay bimparté-la.
Under the veranda, it’s the ambiance and the warmth that a young boy lived every night as he hid to listen to the stories, tales and legends from Guadeloupe. That night, the weather was extremely hot. Unc René arrived late with his two best friends Richard and Emilien. The veranda is about to live its most beautiful moment since Richard and Emilien know as many stories as Unc René does. The bottle of rum was still on the table as if to give the green light.
Dyablès (2015) by Timalo - the book is in Guadeloupean creole.
What if, suddenly, Guadeloupean women, no doubt fed up with being victims of violence, turned on the men in an outpouring of rage and violence?
Fanm Sé Lanmou (2018) by Tessa Naime
This is not a romance novel. Rather, it's 128 pages of epistolary, poetic and theatrical writing, revolving around the thoughts of Mickael, a lover of love, or rather of what he thinks is love (sex). It's as if, in addition to telling us about his sentimental epics, he's writing them down for us, re-enacting scenes from his life.
NB: my discussion in French with Tessa Naime on the representation of masculinities and love.
Fanm Total (2022) by Axelle Kaulanjan
Total is Axelle Kaulanjan's first collection of poems. With a freedom of style that draws its inspiration from the imaginary world of Northern Grande-Terre, the traumas of everyday life, as well as Creole Hinduism and Caribbean magico-religious, the author explores, through this work, different stages in the life of a modern, liberated Caribbean woman. Between dreams and ambitions, ideals and reality, utopias and disillusions, loves and disappointments, commitments and revolts, the power to exist and the negative Pygmalion effect, Axelle Kaulanjan's poetry is a living tribute to the bigidi movement so typical of Caribbean societies, whose essence is resilience and creolization.
L’Isolé Soleil (1981) by Daniel Maximin
Through five generations of rebellious fathers and heroic mothers, “L'isolé soleil” traces the entire history of Guadeloupe, from the horrors of slavery and the revolts that led to abolition, right up to today's turbulent times. The epic of the past leads to a call for the future: the chances and risks of solitude and solidarity, of Creole and French, of speech and writing, of the magic of storytelling and the dance of drums, in the harmony to be found between music and deeds, storms and lulls, love and first names, dreams and awakenings...
Kenbwa An Gwada : Le tout-monde du magico-religieux créole (2013) de Hector Poullet
Guadeloupe appears to be a Caribbean island, firmly anchored in modernity, with its good and bad points. At first glance, there's nothing special to report: traditional society seems well and truly buried, and almost every household has water, electricity, television, a car, an Internet connection and so on... This guide is an attempt to find out what lies behind these appearances.
NB: listen to my discussion in the French podcast “Jamais Sans Mon Livre” by Dialna.
Leonora : the buried story of Guadeloupe (1994) by Dany Bébel-Gisler (it’s available in English!)
Léonora's existence merges with the buried history of Guadeloupe, never taught in schools, which the author, a sociologist and ethnologist from the French West Indies, brings to life in this novel with vivacity, warmth and truth.
The Mermaids’ Scent (2018) by Gisèle Pineau
Siréna's escapades and wild ways had aroused the curiosity of the young boys to whom she sometimes offered a sniff of her seawater-scented hair. Years later, in the eyes of their wives, they'd become the same lustful, cunning types. Inconsistent husbands and fathers. They had loved the Siren with a passion. Not only for her free spirit, her madness and her songs, but above all for what she embodied, which drew them to her like a magnet.
NB: my review
Peaux échappées (2016) by Cindy Marie-Nelly
For Rose, Sarah and the others, loving or being loved calls for tears, screams and blood. All these women seem to share the same destiny, but are desperately trying to find happiness beyond what seems to be inevitable. Because being happy is a matter of choice, and loving is a matter of will, one after the other, often in pain, will have to live despite everything and despite the weight of words...
Pou zòt. Kassav’ – Love and Ka-dance (2023) by Pierre-Edouard Décimus
Pou zòt. Kassav' - Love and Ka-dance tells an essential part of the story of Pierre-Édouard Décimus, musician, composer and creator of innovative musical concepts. The artist takes us on a journey with, among other protagonists, the orchestra Les Vikings and the group Kassav'; well-known figures from Caribbean culture and surprise guests. A journey filled with anecdotes, new facts and encounters, revealing a visionary both rooted in his Creole homeland and turned towards the world.
Renaissance Woman (2018) by Stevy Mahy
Written in the form of a diary, this book takes us on a journey through the stages, doubts and realizations of a person on the road to reconciliation with herself. Who is this self with whom the discussion is engaged? It's up to each of us to define it in our own way. This book is a window onto a dialogue that you can make your own. The diary of a rebirth.
NB: my review
Les Rétifs [The Restless]by Gerty Dambury. It’s available in English !
Structured like a Creole quadrille, this lyrical novel is a rich ethnography bearing witness to police violence in French Guadeloupe. Narrators both living and dead recount the racial and class stratification that led to a protest-turned-massacre in 1967. While Dambury’s English debut is a memorial to a largely forgotten atrocity, it is also a celebration of the vibrancy and resilience of Guadeloupeans.
NB: my review.
Tree of Life (1987) by Maryse Condé
Tree of Life is narrated by Coco, the great granddaughter of Albert Louis, a Guadeloupean man who tries to raise himself out of poverty. Albert Louis travels to Panama, to work on the construction of the Panama Canal and escape, and later to San Francisco to realize his ambitions.