Agnès Agboton

Agnès Agboton (born 1960) is a Beninese writer, poet, storyteller, and translator. She currently lives in Spain. She is of Fon descent, and writes in several languages, including Catalan, Spanish, and the Gun language. She has written several books about African food and culture, and is known for her work in transcribing and translating Beninese folk tales and stories for adults and children. In addition, she has published two bilingual collections of poetry in the Gun language and Spanish.[1]

Agnès Agboton
Born1960 (age 61–62)
Porto-Novo, Benin
OccupationStoryteller, writer
LanguageGun language, Spanish, Catalan
NationalitySpain, Benin
Alma materUniversity of Barcelona

Biography

Agboton was born in Porto-Novo, in Benin, West Africa, where she learned to write in her native Gun language, as well as in French. She initially studied at a Catholic school in Abomey, and later moved to the Ivory Coast to continue her education. She met her husband, Manuel Carrera, and moved with him to Catalania at the age of 18, in 1978, and studied Hispanic philology at the University of Barcelona, as well as learning Catalan and Spanish.[2][3]

Career

After studying philology at the University of Barcelona, Agboton has worked on preserving oral storytelling traditions from Benin and Africa. Since 1990, Agboton has worked in schools in Catalonia, teaching African stories, myths, and culture to students.[3][2] She has published three collections of folktales from Benin and Africa, which she transcribed and translated from the original Gun language.[2] She is considered to be a significant figure in Afro-Spanish writing.[4] She represented Benin at the Poetry Parnassus in London.[5] An English translation of her bilingual collection of poetry, Voz de las dos orillas (Voice of the Two Shores, 2009) Lawrence Schimel was listed as one of World Literature Today's 100 Notable Translations of 2021.[6] In 2005, she published an autobiographical book in Spanish, titled Más allá del mar de arena (Beyond the Sea of Sand) in which she recounted memories of her father, a school teacher and social worker in Benin.[2] She has also written several books about African cuisine, and the role of women in the African household.[7] She also performs Beninese folk tales as part of traditional oral storytelling traditions.[1]

Publications
  • La cuina africana (1988) - non-fiction, on African cuisine ISBN 8-478-09048-7
  • África en los fogones (2001) - co-authored with Eulàlia Sariola, non-fiction, on African cuisine ISBN 8-466-40042-7
  • Las cocinas del mundo (2002) - - non-fiction, on African cuisine
  • Contes d'arreu del món (1995) - collection of African and Beninese folktales
  • Na Mitón, the woman in African tales and legends (2004) ISBN 9-707-90287-6
  • Eté Utú - Why in Africa things are what they are (2009)
  • Zemi Kede - Eros in African oral tradition narratives (2011)
  • Abenyonhú (2003) - collection of African and Beninese folktales ISBN 8-493-31018-2
  • Más allá del mar de arena / Beyond the Sea of Sand (2005) - memoir ISBN 8-401-38673-X
  • Canciones del poblado y del exilio (Songs of Village and of Exile, 2006) - poetry, bilingual in Gun and Spanish ISBN 8-483-30373-6
  • Voz de las dos orillas (Voice of the Two Shores, 2009) - poetry, bilingual in Gun and Spanish ISBN 9-788-47785-8423

References
  1. Brancato, Sabrina (2011-09-22). Afroeurope@n Configurations: Readings and Projects. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4438-3399-8.
  2. Naranjo, José (2012-12-26). "La leña bajo el pescado". El País (in Spanish). ISSN 1134-6582. Retrieved 2022-01-03.
  3. "Agnès Agboton | Casa África". 2018-12-10. Archived from the original on 2018-12-10. Retrieved 2022-01-03.
  4. Borst, Julia (2018-04-03). Tropos de transculturalidad en la obra de Agnès Agboton (in Spanish). Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-36408-0.
  5. "Agnès Agboton". Words Without Borders. Retrieved 2022-01-03.
  6. "World Literature Today's 75—Make That 100—Notable Translations of 2021, by Michelle Johnson". World Literature Today. 2021-11-29. Retrieved 2022-01-03.
  7. canaria, Diego F. Hernández las palmas de gran (2012-12-15). ""Las mujeres hacen un trabajo silencioso en África para que la casa no se caiga"". La Provincia - Diario de Las Palmas (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-01-03.
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