Library Weekly

On 14 June 1948, the Malagasy writer, journalist and filmmaker Michèle Rakotoson was born in Antananarivo. She has published more than ten novels and plays, including Danabé and more recently Ambatomanga, Le silence et la douleur. Her work explores themes like colonization, memory, identity, and environmental justice.

She began her career in Madagascar as a literature teacher and a director. She moved to France in 1983 and earned a degree in sociology. In Paris, she worked as a journalist for Radio France Internationale (RFI), France Culture, and La Première (French TV network). She coordinated literary events and promoted African voices in French media.

In 2010 she returned to Madagascar, co-creating the Projet Slam Jazz and co-founding the Bokiko initiative to support young Malagasy writers. Rakotoson has been active in cultural and political advocacy both in Madagascar and France.

(Source: Wikipedia accessed on 12 June 2026).

Selected publications 

Rakotoson, Michèle, Annick Beaumesnil en Philippe Adrien, La maison morte et Un jour, ma mémoire (Paris, 1991).

Rakotoson, Michèle, Elle, au printemps: roman (Saint-Maur, 1996).

Rakotoson, Michèle, Dadabe: et autres nouvelles (Paris, 1984).

Rakotoson, Michèle, Henoy͏̈: fragments en écorce: roman (Avin, 1998).

Rakotoson, Michèle, Madame à la campagne: chroniques malgaches (Le Tampon, 2016).

Rakotoson, Michèle, Lalana: roman (La Tour d’Aigues, 2002).

Rakotoson, Michèle, Le bain des reliques: roman malgache (Paris, 1988).

Toivanen, Anna-Leena, Mobilities and cosmopolitanisms in African and Afrodiasporic literatures (Leiden, 2021).

Michèle Rakotoson - Sa vie, ses écrits et son pays.