Anne Cheynet
{{short description|French writer (1938–2025)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2025}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Anne Cheynet
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| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1938|8|23}}
| birth_place = Saint-Denis, Réunion
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2025|5|23|1938|8|23}}
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| other_names =
| occupation = Author
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Anne-Marie Thérèse Fontaine (23 August 1938 – 23 May 2025), known by her pen name Anne Cheynet, was a French author in Réunion. Her 1977 work {{Interlanguage link|Les Muselés|lt=|fr||WD=}} is considered a significant contribution to Réunionnais literature, as the first novel to be formally labeled as "Réunionnais."{{Cite book|last=Nicole, Rose-May.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/36876288|title=Noirs, cafres et créoles : études de la représentation du non blanc réunionnais : documents et littératures réunionnaises 1710-1980|date=1996|publisher=L'Harmattan|isbn=2-7384-4615-9|location=Paris|oclc=36876288}}
Biography
Anne-Marie Thérèse Fontaine was born in Saint-Denis, Réunion, in 1938, and spent her childhood in the city's Saint-François neighborhood.{{Cite web|date=9 December 2010|title=Anne Cheynet, 5 Questions pour Île en île|url=http://ile-en-ile.org/anne-cheynet-5-questions-pour-ile-en-ile/|access-date=3 February 2021|website=Île en île|language=fr-FR}} She traveled to Aix-en-Provence to study in 1956, remaining abroad until 1963.{{Cite web|date=4 August 2004|title=Anne Cheynet|url=http://ile-en-ile.org/cheynet/|access-date=3 February 2021|website=Île en île|language=fr-FR}}
Back on the island, she worked as a secondary school teacher before getting involved in politics. She later returned to the classroom as a preschool teacher.
She published her first book, the poetry collection Matanans et Langoutis, in 1972, followed by her best-known work, the novel Les Muselés, which is considered the first work billed as a "Réunionnais novel." The novel, which has an activist slant, focuses on the lives of the poor in Réunion.{{Cite book|last=|first=|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/223174819|title=The New Oxford companion to literature in French|date=1995|publisher=Clarendon Press|others=France, Peter, 1935-|year=|isbn=978-0-19-173500-4|location=Oxford|pages=|chapter=Cheynet, Anne|oclc=223174819}} Cheynet, who was from a poor white family, drew on her experiences of discrimination during the island's colonial era.
Anne Cheynet subsequently published several other books, including the poetry collection Ter tout' kouler and the short story collection Rivages maouls. In 2022, she released a bilingual story collection illustrated by Claire Ruiz, La clé dans zot poche: Histoires semées depuis le Grand Sentier.{{Cite web |date= |title=La clé dans zot poche - Histoires semées depuis le Grand Sentier |url=https://www.la-reunion-des-livres.re/ouvrage/la-cle-dans-zot-poche/ |access-date=23 April 2024 |website=La Réunion des Livres |language=fr-FR}}
Between 2001 and 2004, she produced three CDs of oral storytelling.
She wrote in both French and Creole.
Cheynet died on 23 May 2025, at the age of 86.{{Cite web |date=23 May 2025 |title=Écrivaine et militante, la Réunionnaise Anne Cheynet est décédée |url=https://imazpress.com/actus-reunion/-crivaine-et-militante-la-reunionnaise-anne-cheynet-est-decedee |access-date=23 May 2025 |website=Imaz Press |language=fr}}{{Cite web |date=23 May 2025 |title=Au nom des muselés, disparition de l'écrivaine Anne Cheynet |url=https://www.lequotidien.re/article/culture/2025/05/23/disparition-danne-cheynet-au-nom-des-museles |access-date=23 May 2025 |website=Le Quotidien |language=fr}}
Selected works
- Matanans et Langoutis (poetry), 1972
- Les Muselés (novel), L'Harmattan, 1977
- Ter tout' kouler : Poème pour la terre multicolore (poetry), vol. 1, Ravine des Sables, ADMV, 1992
- Rivages maouls : histoires d'Annabelle (autobiographical), vol. 1, Océan, 1994
- La clé dans zot poche: Histoires semées depuis le Grand Sentier (stories), Éditions Poisson Rouge, 2022
References
External links
- {{discogs artist|Anne Cheynet}}
- [http://ile-en-ile.org/anne-cheynet-5-questions-pour-ile-en-ile/ Interview with Anne Cheynet] (in French)
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cheynet, Anne}}
Category:20th-century French writers