Guy Tirolien
{{Short description|Guadeloupean poet}}
{{Expand French|topic=bio|Guy Tirolien|date=January 2012}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Guy Tirolien
| image =
| caption =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1917|2|13}}
| birth_place = Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1988|3|8|1917|2|13}}
| death_place = Marie-Galante, Guadeloupe
| occupation = Poet, colonial administrator, international civil servant
| nationality = French (Guadeloupean)
| notableworks = Prière d'un petit enfant nègre, Balles d'or, Feuilles vivantes au matin
| movement = Négritude
| relatives = Malika Tirolien (granddaughter)
}}
Guy Tirolien ({{IPA|fr|ɡi tiʁɔljɛ̃}}; February 13, 1917 – March 8, 1988) was a Guadeloupean poet. He was born in Point-à-Pitre and died at the age of 71 in Marie-Galante.
Biography
Guy Tirolien was born in Point-à-Pitre, Guadelope to Furcie Tirolen and Léontine Alméda Colonneau. He was admitted to the Lycée Louis-le-Grand in Paris, where he met Aimé Césaire, Léopold Sédar Senghor and Léon-Gontran Damas, with whom he took part in the creation of the Négritude ideological movement.{{cite web |title=Guy Tirolien |url=https://memoire-esclavage.org/biographies/guy-tirolien |website=Fondation pour la Mémoire de l'Esclavage |language=fr |access-date=2025-07-01}} He was also a colonial administrator in Cameroon and Mali, where he met several figures of the Harlem Renaissance. However, he was taken prisoner during World War II. Afterwards, he worked as an international civil servant, representing the UN, notably in Mali and Gabon. He is the grandfather of singer-songwriter Malika Tirolien.
Work
Tirolien is known as the author of "Prière d'un petit enfant nègre" (1943), a poem included in his book "Balles d'or" published by Présence Africaine. The poem is about a black child who does not want to go to the white school. He also wrote "Feuilles vivantes au matin" under the same publisher.
Selected works
- Balles d'or, published by Présence Africaine in 1961 and 1995{{cite book |title=Balles d'or: poèmes |author=Guy Tirolien |publisher=Présence africaine |year=1961 |isbn=2708700871 |url=https://books.google.be/books/about/Balles_d_or.html?id=jcXqrGy_nFs |language=fr |access-date=2025-07-01}}
- Feuilles vivantes au matin, published by Présence Africaine in 1977{{cite book |title=Feuilles vivantes au matin: nouvelles |author=Guy Tirolien |publisher=Présence africaine |year=1977 |isbn=9782708703407 |url=https://books.google.be/books/edition/_mpY2AAAAIAAJ |language=fr |access-date=2025-07-01}}
- De Marie-Galante à une poétique afro-antillaise, published by L'Harmattan, collected by Monde Caraïbe{{cite book |title=Guy Tirolien: de Marie-Galante à une poétique afro-antillaise |author=Guy Tirolien, Michel Tétu |editor=Michel Tétu |publisher=Éditions Caribéennes |year=1990 |isbn=9782876790629 |url=https://books.google.be/books/edition/Guy_Tirolien/lwdWpoxlh-IC |language=fr |access-date=2025-07-01}}
- l'homme et l'œuvre, published by Présence Africaine in 1991{{cite book |title=Guy Tirolien: l’homme et l’œuvre |author=Willy Alante-Lima, Guy Tirolien |publisher=Présence africaine |year=1991 |isbn=9782708705562 |url=https://books.google.be/books/edition/Guy_Tirolien/cv9cAAAAIAAJ |language=fr |access-date=2025-07-01}}
References
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Category:20th-century French poets
Category:20th-century French male writers
{{France-poet-stub}}
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