Bordering the Mainstream: The Writing of Tololwa Mollel

Abstract

Résumé: Cette presentation de l'oeuvre de Tololwa Mollel, qui vient de publier son septième roman, Big Boy, est fondie sur une entrevue que l'auteur a accordée récemment: les récits pour la jeunesse de Mollel sont au confluent de la tradition folklorique et des réalités contemporaines. En tant qu'écrivain d'origine africaine inscrit dans un contexte multiculturel, il témoigne d'un métissage socioculturel, à la fois littéral et métaphorique, qui occupe une place bien particulière dans le nouveau paysage de la littérature de jeunesse du Canada anglais. Summary: This profile is based on a conversation with Governor General's Award-winning author, Tololwa Mollel. Mollel, who grew up in Tanzania and is now living and writing in Canada, published his seventh book for children last summer, entitled Big Boy. This widely-acclaimed author describes his children's stories as fusions of contemporary realities and traditional folklores. But as a writer of colour working within a Canadian multicultural context, Mollel's negotiation of the histories and geographies he literally, as well as metaphorically, crosses extends beyond his narratives and maps a complex and often difficult territory through the racial and cultural politics surrounding the production of Canadian children's literature.