I'm Didyer, a poet from Morne à l'eau in Guadeloupe. I'm passionate about poetry, and my writings are inspired by the great poets of the Caribbean and Negritude, such as Césaire and Damas. "My poetry is neither black nor white, neither male nor female, but is part of the universality that makes room for humanity. Nothing predestined me for this immersion in the literary world, as I was initially fascinated by numbers and studied accountancy. It was at secondary school that a teacher placed literary works by West Indian authors in my hands. I recognised myself in this reading, in the characters who resembled me and my environment. It was the catalyst that triggered the rebirth of the poet who had been slumbering inside me for too long.

From then on, as a passionate reader, I devoured a number of West Indian authors. There's only one step between reading and writing, and the numbers man that I am became more and more interested in writing, so I became a press correspondent for a local daily. In 2001, I moved to France to work in the social sector as a manager in a community centre in Seine Saint-Denis. It was an opportunity for me to discover different cultures, different worlds... Poetry came to me and in 2005 I published my first collection, Mots de couleur, the first part of a trilogy of words. These texts are imbued with social realities and call for greater awareness.

In 2006, I decided to return to my native island. I became a company director to support entrepreneurs. Then in 2009, I got involved in the production and publication of West Indian works by officially creating Editions Neg Mawon. Editions Neg Mawon is a publishing house specialising in Creole and French-language literary works. Located in the West Indies, in Guadeloupe, it has been creating, promoting and working to develop literature from the West Indies and French Guiana for nearly 10 years. The aim of Editions Neg Mawon is to showcase local talent, and to provide a better understanding of the arts, artists and contemporary literary production in the Caribbean. Several books will be published, including "Larmes de mots", a collection of poetry combining French and Creole, and "Ti mo a lanmou", an opportunity to try a new style. A hymn to love in a noble language: Creole.

Didyer MANNETTE