Simone Lagrand

I started writing as soon as I learned that I could write for the spoken word. That was in Paris in 2006. The world of slam poetry opened before me, and my writing soon began to reflect my position as a Martinican woman living away from her heartland. After writing extensively about my childhood and working through my family disputes, I embarked on a lengthy investigation of notions of pleasure and desire in a post-colonial and, above all, bilingual context. Creole forms the heart of my writing.

In 2021, I decided to explore imaginary childhood worlds with texts for younger audiences. The theme of the future has strongly influenced my thinking. (How should we envisage the future? Should we be afraid of it?) Naturally, I started looking at the environment, a subject that I had already touched upon when writing about mangroves. Then, a book by Malcolm Ferdinand ended up convincing me that it was time to enter into a new writing phase on this topic. As a young mother, my daily life is fraught with the issue of our presence in the world as conscious subjects and agents of environmental collapse.

This is how my project came about. Tarot littoral combines thoughts on the future of the environment, personal ecology, and the environmental issues in Martinique.

From poetry to songs to fiction, Simone Lagrand’s writing is fed by an obsession with scarring, gwopwèl (a kind of Martinican saudade), sensuality, nighttime, nature, and the loneliness of being an only child. A regular at jazz festival performances (Lamentin Jazz Project, Jazz in Porquerolles, Rueil Jazz, Fort de France Festival, Biguine Jazz) and eclectic collaborations (Jeff Baillard, Stéphane Castry, DJ Motsek, Zist, DJ Noss), Lagrand is a self-professed “paroleuse” (wordsmith).