Léon-Gontran Damas (1912–1978) was born in Cayenne, French Guiana. He was the first of the Négritude writers to produce poetry, publishing individual poems in Esprit (1934) and L’Étudiant noir (1935), as well as a collection of poetry, Pigments (1937). He also edited an anthology of poetry, Poètes d’expression française (1947). Damas’s later works include poetry: Graffiti (1953), Black-Label (1956), Poèmes nègres sur des airs africains (1948), Névralgies (1966); accounts of folklore: Veillées noires (1943); Poèmes nègres sur des airs africains; and essays and journalistic writings: Retour de Guyane (1938); “1789 et nous les noirs” (1939);�…
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Citation: Miller, Francis B. "Léon-Gontran Damas". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 17 June 2013 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=12582, accessed 22 November 2024.]
