Ndouna Dépénaud

Ndouna Dépénaud
Born	(1937-07-07)July 7, 1937 Akiéni, Haut-Ogooué, Gabon
Died	(1977-07-19)July 19, 1977 Libreville, Gabon
Occupation	Writer, poet, playwright, educator, diplomat
Nationality	Gabonese

Dieudonné Pascal Ndouna Okogo, known as Ndouna Dépénaud, was a Gabonese writer, poet, playwright, educator, and diplomat, born on July 7, 1937, in Akiéni, Haut-Ogooué province in the southeast of the country, and assassinated on July 19, 1977, in Libreville.

Biography

Early Life and Education

He completed part of his primary and secondary education in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo. In 1955, he obtained his BEPC (Certificate of Primary Studies) in Libreville. That same year, he won a competition to join the Mitzic Normal School in northern Gabon. The following year, in 1956, he obtained his end-of-studies certificate. He was then assigned as an assistant teacher in Batouala in the Ogooué-Ivindo province in northeastern Gabon. On January 1, 1958, the young teacher was confirmed in his position by the territorial administration.

Career

During the 1960–1961 school year, he was appointed regional director of Makokou and a teacher at the general education college in the same city.

From 1966 to 1968, he underwent training at the École normale supérieure d'Abidjan in Ivory Coast. In July 1968, upon his return to his country, he was appointed as a teacher in a general education college. In May 1972, he was appointed director of primary education concurrently with his teaching duties at the École Normale Supérieure and the National School of Administration in Libreville.

In September 1972, he embarked on a diplomatic career. He was appointed first counselor at the Gabonese embassy in Israel. The following year, he was appointed ambassador of Gabon to Equatorial Guinea.

In October 1975, he returned to national education as director of the Teacher Training Center in Oyem after serving as head of the school district of Woleu-Ntem and being appointed inspector of national education.

Death

Ndouna Dépénaud was assassinated on July 19, 1977, near his home in the Akébé neighborhood in Libreville. According to Pierre Péan, Ndouna Dépénaud had reportedly married Josephine Kama Dabany, also known as Patience Dabany, in a customary union, who later became the wife of Omar Bongo, President of Gabon. For the French journalist, the death of the Gabonese poet was linked to this past relationship with Omar Bongo's wife. Although the assassination of Ndouna Dépénaud remains unresolved, he is said to have been "cold-bloodedly murdered" by three members of the presidential guard. Placide Ondo also mentioned rumors of a crime of passion involving Ndouna Dépénaud and Josephine Kama. Jeune Afrique magazine indicates that Ndouna Dépénaud was an opponent of Omar Bongo's regime.

At the time of his death, Ndouna Dépénaud left behind a widow and six children, including his daughter Flore Andréa Ndouna Dépénaud, who continues to honor her father's memory by organizing events and cultural workshops to promote the poet's work.

Works

Ndouna Dépénaud published two collections of poetry:

• Passages. Poetic Essays, Libreville, National Pedagogical Institute, 1969.
• Rêves à l'aube (Dreams at Dawn), Libreville, National Pedagogical Institute, 1975.

He also published a four-act play, La Plaie (The Wound).

At the time of his death, he left several projects awaiting publication: a novel titled Le Gouverneur des lacs (The Governor of the Lakes); a play titled Elle ne l'épousera pas (She Won't Marry Him); and a collection of tales and proverbs titled Les miettes du passé (The Crumbs of the Past).

Ndouna Dépénaud expressed his love for writing and especially for poetry in these words: "I cannot say how or why I came to poetry. An essentially literary education, a particular taste for the marvelous, and a very sensitive nature must have led me to poetry... Why poetry? Simply because I have a fundamentally Negro soul, and poetry is the literary form that suits the expression of the Negro soul, imbued with sensitivity".

In his anthology of Gabonese poets, Eric Joël Bekale notes that Ndouna Dépénaud was "the best-known Gabonese writer of the seventies".

Ndouna Dépénaud's work is well-represented in anthologies of Gabonese literature. Literary critic Fortunat Obiang notes that "Ndouna Dépénaud favors themes that sufficiently indicate that his writing is on the margins of the lyrical protest inherent in Negritude".

Bibliography

• "M. Ndouna Dépénaud n'est plus". L'Union. No. 472. July 21, 1977.
• Fortunat Obiang Essono (April–June 1991). "Lire Ndouna Dépénaud". Notre Librairie. No. 105. pp. 112–113.