| Gaëlle Bélem | |
| Birth Date: | November 14, 1984 |
| Birth Place: | Saint-Benoît, Réunion |
| Occupation: | Latin, history and geography teacher, journalist, novelist |
| Language: | French |
| Nationality: | French |
| Education: | Lycée Pierre-de-Fermat, École pratique des hautes études |
| Alma Mater: | Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University |
| Notableworks: | Un monstre est là, derrière la porte (2020), Le fruit le plus rare ou la vie d'Edmond Albius (2023) |
| Awards: |
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Gaëlle Bélem (born 1984) is a French writer of Réunionese extraction known for the prize-winning coming-of-age novel Un monstre est là, derrière la porte (2020), and the historical novel Le fruit le plus rare : ou la vie d'Edmond Albius (2023).[1]
Gaëlle Bélem was born in Saint-Benoît, Réunion, grew up in a modest family and has been writing since the age of twelve.[2] [3] She left Réunion at the age of 17, and studied in Toulouse, France, at the Lycée Pierre-de-Fermat from 2002 to 2005, and subsequently at Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University in 2005 and finally at École Pratique des Hautes Études.[2] In 2009 she started as a teacher of history and geography in Île-de-France.[2] Back in Réunion, she continued to work as a teacher of Latin, history and geography, first in middle school and later in high school.[4] She also taught in a detention center[2] and functions as an associate judge in a juvenile court.[3]
In 2020 she published her first novel Un monstre est là, derrière la porte (translated title: A Monster is There, Behind the Door).[2] [5] [6] The novel was awarded the 2020 Grand prix du roman métis as well as the André-Dubreuil prize of the Société des gens de lettres for a first novel and was among the finalists for the Prix des cinq continents de la francophonie that year.[2] [7] Not an autobiographical novel, it relates with humor the story of a young girl growing up in a poor and dysfunctional family in Saint-Benoît.[3]
In 2023, Bélem published her second novel Le fruit le plus rare ou la vie d'Edmond Albius (translated title: The Rarest Fruit, or the Life of Edmond Albius), both a fictionalized historical biography of horticulturist Edmond Albius and an adventure novel.[8] [9] Albius's novel technique revolutionized the cultivation of vanilla by making it possible to profitably grow Vanilla planifolia beyond its native habitat in Latin America.