Aimé Césaire

Aimé Césaire
Césaire in 2003
Born
Aimé Fernand David Césaire

(1913-06-26)26 June 1913
Died17 April 2008(2008-04-17) (aged 94)
Fort-de-France, Martinique, France
EducationÉcole Normale Supérieure
Occupation(s)Poet, author and politician
Known forNégritude movement
Notable workCahier d'un retour au pays natal (1939)
Political partyMartinican Progressive Party
Spouse
(m. 1937; div. 1963)

Aimé Fernand David Césaire (/sˈzɛər/; French: [ɛme fɛʁnɑ̃ david sezɛʁ]; 26 June 1913 17 April 2008) was a French poet, author, and politician from Martinique. He was "one of the founders of the Négritude movement in Francophone literature" and coined the word négritude in French. He founded the Parti progressiste martiniquais in 1958, and served in the French National Assembly from 1945 to 1993 and as President of the Regional Council of Martinique from 1983 to 1988. He was also the Mayor of Fort-de-France for 56 years, from 1945–2001.

His works include the book-length poem Cahier d'un retour au pays natal (1939), Une Tempête, a response to William Shakespeare's play The Tempest, and Discours sur le colonialisme (Discourse on Colonialism), an essay describing the strife between the colonizers and the colonized. Césaire's works have been translated into many languages.