When Award–winning Mauritian author, Priya Hein was young, her family briefly lived in London for a couple of years. Before returning to Mauritius, one teacher took her to the Mare Street Public Library in Hackney. She had never visited a library before and this marked a momentous occasion in her life, which she credits as her first introduction to literature.
Upon her return to Mauritius, while growing up on a remote island at a time when there were very few distractions, reading, and writing would become a way of leaving behind the geographical confinements of this lonely world she was living in, although it made her wonder why people who looked like her were not featured in the books she so admired.
She would start writing when she was about eleven years old but was far too shy to share her stories with anyone. Years later when her children were born, she found herself looking for a children’s book about Mauritius and the Dodo but she could not find what she was looking for. So she decided to write a story for them that would eventually end up getting published and marking her entry into writing and publishing.

At present, Hein carries the belief that amidst the world crises we are currently living in, literature matters today more than ever because it has something urgent to say about empathy. It is a source of cultural knowledge and exploration of what it is to be human. Literature equally allows us to question the world, change society, and break the norms as well as the rigid structures of hierarchy.

She is the author of the acclaimed novel Riambel which as an unpublished manuscript won The 2021 Jean-Fanchette Prize, chaired by J.M.G Le Clézio, winner of the Nobel Prize for literature. Later on, Riambel won The Athena Prize 2023.

Hein wrote the first draft of Riambel while living in Germany as a response to the BLM movement, after being discouraged to speak up on her own experiences as a woman immigrant. Shocked and angry at the disturbing comments she was hearing from the right-wing groups and some people in her entourage, she would write the first draft of Riambel over one long weekend, as a way of enabling herself to channel her emotions.

She says, “It was my way of protesting as I wanted to write something different about entitlement, white supremacy, and institutionalized racism from another perspective. I was experimenting with a new style of writing and testing literary boundaries the same way I was questioning historical and social boundaries in the story without caving to Anglophone-dominated aesthetic pressures or stylistic conventions.”
By writing Riambel, Hein was on an endeavor to use literature as a tool to question existing norms, spur much-needed action, and utilize it as a potent implement for social change.

Challenge traditional narratives

“Writing is a powerful tool that allows us to break existing norms, and long-standing hierarchical structures and to challenge traditional narratives often told from one point of view. Fiction provides a safe space for writers to use their pen to air grievances, amplify marginalized voices, raise awareness about societal issues that are often taboo, challenge oppressive regimes, advocate for gender and racial equality, and more. Over the centuries, literature has not only acted as a catalyst for social change but has played a major role in shaping history as well as her story.”

Lately, Mauritians, especially women authors, have been garnering a lot of interest and recognition on the literary scene globally. The 2024 laureate of the prestigious Neustadt International Prize for Literature is none other than the prolific Mauritian author Ananda Devi who will receive her award at the Prize Ceremony in Oklahoma in October 2024. The Guardian recently named her novel Eve out of Her Ruins — which was translated by Jeffrey Zuckerman, and published by Deep Vellum — as among the hundred best contemporary novels in translation by women writers.

Mauritius has a very rich history of literature dating back to Bernardin de Saint Pierre’s eighteenth-century novel Paul et Virginie. However, the major literary voices from Mauritius such as Edward Hart, Jean Fanchette, Ananda Devi, Nathacha Appanah, Barlen Pyamootoo, Shenaz Patel, Marie-Thérèse Humbert and J.M.G Le Clézio (Nobel Prize laureate in literature) are predominantly francophone writers. For a very long time, there were only a few anglophone Mauritian writers such as Lindsey Collen, the novelist and activist who won the 1994 and 2005 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for best book in the African region.

But the tide seems to have turned. Priya Hein is representative of neophyte anglophone Mauritian novelists whose work has received a high level of endorsement globally. There is a current new wave of anglophone Mauritian writers alongside Hein who are being noticed and heralded.

Such include the novelist Natasha Soobramanien who won the 2022 Goldsmiths Prize for her novel Diego Garcia, which she co-authored with Luke Williams. Others include Sabah Carrim won the 2024 Afritondo Short Story Prize and Reena Usha Rungoo who recently won the Commonwealth Short Story Prize for Africa 2024.
Worth noting is that Mauritius is a heterogeneous country, it is quite normal for Mauritians to speak several languages hence there is a plethora of Mauritian writers who, for political reasons and as a form of resistance, chose to write in other indigenous languages.

Abhimanyu Unnuth, one of the most prolific Mauritian writers of his time, authored over 70 works mainly in Hindi peppered with Bhojpuri, the language of his ancestors who were indentured laborers on the known Mauritian sugar estates. The young Melanie Pérès writes her novels exclusively in Mauritian Creole, the lingua franca of the island’s 1.3 million inhabitants.
Hein proclaims that she hopes a newer generation of readers and tourists, will want to learn more about Mauritius through its uniquely multilayered literature. Her book Riambel, borrows its name from the rural fishing village of Riambel situated in the south of Mauritius. The book’s central character, Noemi, is conceptualized as a fifteen-year-old Creole girl from Riambel.
‘Ariambelo’ meaning sunny coast

By setting the book in Mauritius and through the use of Mauritian characters, she explores her country’s colonial past and historical background. She explains that having spent considerable time in Riambel, she is very familiar with the landscape of the village which ironically derives its name from the Malagasy word ‘Ariambelo’ meaning sunny coast.

“Life was anything but sunny for the enslaved who were brought to the island to work on the sugar plantations. Fiction is often inspired by historical facts with elements of truth in the cultural settings, stories, and characters, however fictional. In some cases, it can romanticize past lives (e.g. in historical dramas) but it can also shed light on hidden truths and harsh realities that depict the other side of the story. History is often told from one point of view, in favor of the colonizers and the powerful.”

In Riambel, Hein wanted to narrate the story from another perspective, from the descendants of the formerly enslaved living in a cité (shanty town) across the road from a white Mauritian family whose ancestors were the former colonizers of Mauritius, the élite tier who controlled sugar production.

Hein also explains, “ We still live in a patriarchal society where women are silenced or ignored. Riambel is the story of not only Noemi but also her sister, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. The book is a tribute to all the hardworking women who were frequently erased from history. So yes, the substance of fiction allows writers to explore human history and in the case of Riambel: Herstory.”

Before the release of this debut book, she had previously primarily published children’s books and short stories. As previously mentioned, her first published book had originally been written for her children and as they grew up, her writing also grew with them. When she wrote the first draft of this debut novel Riambel, her daughter was about the same age as the main character.
“The transition from juvenile to adult literature evolved in a very natural and organic way. When I wrote children’s books, I was more conscious that I was writing for a specific audience. Transitioning to adult literature has given me more freedom and flexibility, also in terms of expression and language without having to worry if it is suitable for young readers.”
Currently, Hein is in the process of finishing up a second novel called Tamarin, which takes place in England and Mauritius — in the village of Tamarin which is situated on the west coast of the island. A new novel that will further enrich the tapestry that is now Mauritian Literature. She says, “The style is quite different from Riambel and I can’t wait to share it with my readers once the book is published”.

The author lives with her husband and two kids in Munich, Germany.
RIAMBEL is published by Indigo Press. 160 pages, about 13€

The taste of diversity: Food tour in Mauritius!

Chilicakes, steamed dumplings, and the Mauritian variant of Indian roti: during a food tour through the capital Port Louis you will become acquainted with the cultural diversity of this island in the Indian Ocean.

The taste of diversity: Food tour in Mauritius!

Extracts of a post from ‘ Travel Diaries ‘ – A travel blog about the adventures and explorations of Veerle Witte
‘People visit Mauritius for an average of nine days and only spend one day outside of their resort,’ says Shakti, who is taking me on a food tour through Port Louis today. She set up the first agency for cultural tours of the island: MyMoris, which is Creole for My Mauritius. ‘We felt it was a shame that all activities in Mauritius take place on the water or in nature,’ she says. ‘There is so much to discover in the cultural field.’

” The Mauritian cuisine, for example, is a melting pot of different cultures, just like the island itself.
The history of the island is reflected in the kitchen. We walk through narrow, cobbled streets full of colorful buildings: from mosques to Hindu temples. Mountains of red, yellow, and orange spices are lined in small shops, alongside large bags of rice and dried fish. Scents of incense, fried dough, curries, and exhaust fumes blend in my nose. Today, Hindus make up nearly seventy percent of the population, Creoles twenty-seven percent and three percent are French-Mauritian.

‘I want you to taste this first,’ Shakti says, stopping in front of a blue-red peeled-off stall. Gateaux piment: fried chili cakes. A friendly smiling gentleman is stirring in a large steaming pan. “In Mauritius, they make cakes or fried balls from just about anything,’ Shakti explains. ‘But this is a national favorite.’ They are like spicy falafel balls, but a bit lighter. My cake is so spicy that it gives me a hiccup.

The next stop is in Chinatown to taste steamed dumplings in a juicy broth. We walk further. Shakti points to the street signs: every street has signs in English, French, and Chinese. At a tiny Chinese shop that we would otherwise pass by, we taste different rice cakes.

” The last stop is the Port Louis market, where we stroll past stalls full of fresh fish and strange-looking vegetables. I get a bag of pink roasted peanuts pushed into my hand. Here we taste my favorite dish of the day: Mauritian roti, rolled Indian pancakes with vegetarian curry in it. So good, I ordered it every day for the rest of my stay in Mauritius!