The Kanak Apple Season: Selected Short Fiction of Déwé Gorodé

by Gorode, Dewe, Brown, Peter (ed.) (2004), 227pp., ISBN 1 74076 040 9.
AUD$27.23 (Including GST: AUD$29.95) (softcover )

Mme Déwé Gorodé, Vice-President of the Government and the leading Kanak writer of New Caledonia, visits Australia to attend and speak at the Sydney Writers Festival (19 - 25May 2004).

In the 1970s, Déwé Gorodé became politically active in the incipient cause of independence, and with Nidoïsh Naisseline, formed with Elie Poigoune the Groupe 1878, in memory of the Kanak revolt of that year under chief Ataï. In 1976, she was one of the founders of the political party PALIKA (Parti de Libération Kanak), which evolved out of the Groupe 1878, and she has remained a leading member of this party ever since. She has published two volumes of short stories, Utê Mûrûnû (1994) and L'Agenda (1996), and two books of poetry, Par les temps qui courent (1996) and Dire le vrai (1999). Since April 2001, she has also been Vice-President of the New Caledonian Government.

This collection is the first English translation Gorodé's work, and is part of Pandanus' efforts to bring Francophone writing to the attention of Australian readers. A remarkable collection reflecting the ethnic complexities of the colonial past of New Caledonia, the author's approach to language reveals an original voice that compels attention. Drawing on the heritage of blood-lines, family, cultural tradition and colonialism, Gorodé takes her reader on a journey into the Kanak world providing fascinating insight into the culture of New Caledonia, at once both Pacific island and French colonial possession.