{{short description|French novelist (born 1988)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2026}} {{Infobox writer | name = Caroline Laurent | image = | caption = | alt = | birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1988}} | birth_place = | occupation = {{Cslist|Novelist|editor|memoirist}} | language = French | education = Paris-Sorbonne University | genre = <!-- or: | genres = --> | subject = <!-- or: | subjects = --> | movement = | notable_works = | website = }} '''Caroline Laurent''' (born 1988) is a French novelist, memoirist and editor. Her books include ''Et soudain, la liberté'' (2017), co-written with Évelyne Pisier and completed after Pisier's death, and ''Rivage de la colère'' (2020), a novel about the expulsion of the Chagossians that was published in English as ''An Impossible Return'' (2022). Both novels received multiple literary awards.
==Biography== Laurent was born in 1988. Her mother's family is from Mauritius.<ref name="Randell">{{cite web |title=Caroline Laurent – 2022/23 |url=https://www.randellcottage.co.nz/2022/12/caroline-laurent-2022/ |website=Randell Cottage Writers Trust |access-date=7 April 2026 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Dawoor">{{cite journal |last1=Dawoor |first1=Yagnishsing |title=An Impossible Return by Caroline Laurent |journal=World Literature Today |date=January 2023 |url=https://worldliteraturetoday.org/2023/january/impossible-return-caroline-laurent |access-date=7 April 2026 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Carine">{{cite news |last1=Azzopardi |first1=Carine |title=Dans "Rivage de la colère", Caroline Laurent dévoile un pan d’histoire méconnu de la décolonisation dans l’océan Indien |url=https://www.franceinfo.fr/culture/livres/roman/dans-rivages-de-la-colere-caroline-laurent-devoile-un-pan-dhistoire-meconnu-de-la-decolonisation-dans-locean-indien_3766979.html |access-date=7 April 2026 |work=Franceinfo |date=13 January 2020 |language=fr-FR}}</ref> She studied modern literature at the Paris-Sorbonne University.<ref name="Imaz"/>
Her first novel, ''Et soudain, la liberté'' ("And suddenly, freedom") was co-written with Évelyne Pisier; Laurent completed the novel after Pisier's death.<ref name="Randell"/><ref name="Brus">{{cite news |last1=Brusini |first1=Hervé |title="Et soudain, la liberté" d'Evelyne Pisier et Caroline Laurent : destinées au féminin |url=https://www.franceinfo.fr/culture/livres/roman/quot-et-soudain-la-libertequot-d-039-evelyne-pisier-et-caroline-laurent-destinees-au-feminin_3346097.html |access-date=7 April 2026 |work=Franceinfo |date=7 September 2017 |language=fr-FR}}</ref><ref name="Mazin">{{cite news |last1=Mazin |first1=Cécile |title=Le prix Première plume du Furet du Nord à “Et soudain la liberté” |url=https://actualitte.com/article/23369/prix-litteraires/le-prix-premiere-plume-du-furet-du-nord-a-et-soudain-la-liberte |access-date=8 April 2026 |work=Actualitté |date=30 July 2017}}</ref> It was a fictionalised account of Pisier's life.<ref name="Berger">{{cite journal |last1=Berger |first1=Laurel |title=Hope Against Hope: An Impossible Return |journal=Literary Review |date=November 2022 |url=https://literaryreview.co.uk/hope-against-hope |access-date=8 April 2026 |language=en |url-access=subscription}}</ref> Laurent received assistance from Pisier's husband, Olivier Duhamel, to finish the novel.<ref name="Alex">{{cite news |last1=Schwartzbrod |first1=Alexandra |title=Critique «Ce que nous désirons le plus» de Caroline Laurent, sonde de chocs |url=https://www.liberation.fr/culture/livres/ce-que-nous-desirons-le-plus-de-caroline-laurent-sonde-de-chocs-20220914_6Y2UAVDQTNEXJFTOPCDVEZFCTM/ |access-date=7 April 2026 |work=Libération |date=14 September 2022 |language=fr |url-access=subscription}}</ref> It received the {{ill|Prix Marguerite-Duras|fr}}, the Grand Prix des Lycéennes from ''ELLE'',<ref name="Randell"/> and the {{ill|Prix Première Plume|fr}}.<ref name="Mazin"/>
Her second novel, ''Rivage de la colère'' (The shores of anger), was published in 2020.<ref name="Randell"/> It is about the expulsion of the Chagossians from the Chagos Archipelago in the 1960s and 1970s.<ref name="Dawoor"/> For this work she received the Prix Maison de la Presse,<ref name="Lacour">{{cite news |last1=Lacour |first1=Cécilia |title=Caroline Laurent, lauréate du prix Maison de la presse 2020 |url=https://www.livreshebdo.fr/article/caroline-laurent-laureate-du-prix-maison-de-la-presse-2020 |access-date=8 April 2026 |work=Livres Hebdo |date=28 May 2020 |language=fr}}</ref> the Grand prix des blogueurs,<ref>{{cite news |last1=Contreras |first1=Isabel |title=Caroline Laurent, lauréate du Grand prix des blogueurs 2020 |url=https://www.livreshebdo.fr/article/caroline-laurent-laureate-du-grand-prix-des-blogueurs-2020 |access-date=8 April 2026 |work=Livres Hebdo |date=5 January 2021 |language=fr}}</ref> the Prix du roman métis des lycéens (shared with Kaouther Adimi),<ref name="Imaz">{{cite news |title=Prix du Roman métis des lycéens : Kaouther Adimi et Caroline Laurent co-lauréates |url=https://imazpress.com/actus-reunion/prix-du-roman-metis-des-lyceens-kaouther-adimi-et-caroline-laurent-co-laureates |access-date=8 April 2026 |work=Imaz Press |date=4 February 2021 |language=fr}}</ref> the Grand prix du roman métis des lecteurs,<ref>{{cite news |title=Grand Prix du Roman Métis 2020: Gaëlle Bélem et Caroline Laurent lauréates |url=https://www.exclusif.re/Grand-Prix-du-Roman-Metis-2020-Gaelle-Belem-et-Caroline-Laurent-laureates_a1447.html |access-date=8 April 2026 |work=eXclusif.re |date=4 December 2020 |language=fr}}</ref> and the {{ill|Prix Paul-Bourdarie|fr}}.<ref>{{cite web |title=Prix Paul BOURDARIE |url=https://www.academieoutremer.fr/historique-des-prix/prix-paul-bourdarie/ |website=Académie des sciences dʼoutre-mer |access-date=8 April 2026 |language=fr-FR}}</ref>
''Rivage de la colère'' was translated into English by Jeffrey Zuckerman and published in English under the title ''An Impossible Return'' (2022). A review by Yagnishsing Dawoor in ''World Literature Today'' describes Laurent as a "clever, spirited storyteller" who "knows exactly what to reap and thresh from history". He concludes that Laurent's "immensely affecting novel shows us that the pain and the blood, the hope—if held onto with enough might and conviction, through the tears—are everything".<ref name="Dawoor"/>
Her third book, ''Ce que nous désirons le plus'', was published in 2022. It is an autobiographical work about her experiences after the Duhamel scandal; she had come to view Olivier Duhamel as a kind of surrogate father when collaborating on finishing ''Et soudain, la liberté'', and the scandal forced her to reconsider her friendship with him and with Pisier (who knew about the abuse).<ref name="Alex"/>
Laurent held the Randell Cottage Writers' Residency in 2022/23.<ref name="Randell"/><ref>{{cite web |title=Caroline Laurent arrives at Randell Cottage |url=https://www.randellcottage.co.nz/2022/12/caroline-laurent-arrives-at-randell-cottage/ |website=Randell Cottage Writers Trust |access-date=8 April 2026 |language=en}}</ref>
==Selected works== *''Et soudain, la liberté'' ("And suddenly, freedom") (Les Escales, 2017), with Évelyne Pisier<ref name="Brus"/> *''Rivage de la colère'' ("The shores of anger") (Les Escales, 2020); published in English as ''An Impossible Return'' (AmazonCrossing, 2022), translated by Jeffrey Zuckerman<ref name="Brus"/><ref name="Dawoor"/> *''Ce que nous désirons le plus'' (Les Escales, 2022)<ref name="Alex"/>
== References == {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Laurent, Caroline}} Category:1988 births Category:Living people Category:Mauritian people Category:Paris-Sorbonne University alumni Category:21st-century French novelists Category:French editors Category:French women editors Category:21st-century French memoirists Category:French women memoirists Category:Mauritian novelists Category:Mauritian women novelists Category:French people of Mauritian descent Category:21st-century French women novelists