Maryse Condé, at Home in the World

Throughout her four-decade literary career, the Guadeloupean writer has explored a global vision of the Black diaspora, and placed Caribbean life at the center.

Maryse Condé’s long life and career — at 86, the Guadeloupean writer has published more than 20 books — has been shaped by some of the world’s biggest political and cultural upheavals.

And she, in turn, has played a role in interpreting those shifts. With roots in Guadeloupe, but encompassing the years she spent in Africa, Europe and North America, her work has explored the many threads of the Black diaspora — always keeping the Caribbean at the center.