MONTREAL – The Académie Française has welcomed its newest “immortal” member – and he’s a Quebecer.
Haitian-Canadian Dany Laferrière was inducted Thursday into the exclusive institution, whose mandate is to protect the integrity of the French language.
He received a ceremonial sword two days earlier – a symbol given to all new members.
Laferrière was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti and was raised in Petit Goâve.
He moved to Canada in 1976 and worked as a journalist and television host for V Télé, then known as TQS.
He published his first novel, “How to Make Love to a Negro Without Getting Tired” in 1985.
READ MORE: Quebec author Dany Laferrière accepted by Académie française
Since then, he’s written close to 20 novels.
Laferrière writes exclusively in French.
The Académie is made up of forty members, known informally as les immortels (the immortals).
As the name suggests, they remain members of the institution for life.
New inductees can only be elected by current members of the Académie.
Laferrière was first elected to take Seat number 2 at the Académie Française in 2013.
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