Guy Tirolien

• Name — Guy Tirolien • Born — 13 February 1917 • Birthplace — Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe • Died — 8 March 1988 • Place of death — Marie-Galante, Guadeloupe • Occupation — Poet, colonial administrator, international civil servant • Notable Works — Prière d'un petit enfant nègre, Balles d'or, Feuilles vivantes au matin • Movement — Négritude • Relatives — Malika Tirolien (granddaughter)

Guy Tirolien was born in Point-à-Pitre, Guadelope to Furcie Tirolen and Léontine Alméda Colonneau. He was admitted to the Lycée Louis-le-Grand in Paris, where he met Aimé Césaire, Léopold Sédar Senghor and Léon-Gontran Damas, with whom he took part in the creation of the Négritude ideological movement. He was also a colonial administrator in Cameroon and Mali, where he met several figures of the Harlem Renaissance. However, he was taken prisoner during World War II. Afterwards, he worked as an international civil servant, representing the UN, notably in Mali and Gabon. He is the grandfather of singer-songwriter Malika Tirolien.

Tirolien is known as the author of "Prière d'un petit enfant nègre" (1943), a poem included in his book "Balles d'or" published by Présence Africaine. The poem is about a black child who does not want to go to the white school. He also wrote "Feuilles vivantes au matin" under the same publisher.

• Balles d'or, published by Présence Africaine in 1961 and 1995 • Feuilles vivantes au matin, published by Présence Africaine in 1977 • De Marie-Galante à une poétique afro-antillaise, published by L'Harmattan, collected by Monde Caraïbe • l'homme et l'œuvre, published by Présence Africaine in 1991