UCF Modern Languages Professor Marie Léticée published her debut novel, Moun Lakou [Inna de Yard], this week in Paris, France. Léticée’s publisher, Ibis Rouge, spotlighted the novel by launching it at Salon du Livre, a massive book fair with exhibits by more than 1,000 publishers from around the world, heavy coverage from TV, radio, and internet media, musical performances, author readings and interviews, and even a visit by French President Francois Hollande.
Moun Lakou is a coming-of-age story set in Léticée’s home island of Guadeloupe. It traces the thoughts, memories, and feelings of Camille as she prepares to travel back from her current life in Florida to the place where she grew up. Despite seeing the Guadeloupean lakou or yard as troubling and poor, Camille realizes the value of life in the lakou with its open-air games, simple but delicious meals, and a heavily communal life with family and neighbors who lived alongside Camille.
Léticée has taught French language and culture at UCF since 1988. Moun Lakou is her second book and first novel.
To learn more about the 36th Annual Salon du Livre, click here