NAIVO

Naivoharisoa Patrick Ramamonjisoa, who signs Naivo, was born in Madagascar, where he pursued a career as a journalist and columnist. He studied at the University of Antananarivo, the University of Paris VI and York University.

His historical novel Beyond The Rice Fields was among the 2017 New & Noteworthy by the New York Times alongside a reprint of Hemingway’s Letters (1929-1931), and Yuval Noah Harari’s Sapiens. Beyond The Rice Fields is an English translation from the original French, by Allison Charette, who subsequently won a PEN America grant (Pen Heim 2015). The book was shortlisted for the 2018 BTBA Award, and has received praise in BBC Culture, Publishers Weekly, Booklist, Africultures, and Foreword Reviews, among others.

Naivo also writes short stories and essays focusing primarily on colonialism, politics, and past and present corruption in African, and particularly Malagasy, privileged circles.