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An update from Evaneos
Madagascar

Some works that can help you understand Madagascar better (part 1)

I left without any information apart from a nice map which someone gave me just before I boarded. I really wanted to arrive in Madagascar like a blank sheet, without having any one else's ideas about it in my head.

A month later I was going from one library to the next looking for novels, poems and travel book about the island. In my head I had so many images but not enough words. 

Stéphanie Ledoux's pictures of a journey

The illustrator and "carnettiste" (a traveller who loves to sketch rather than write) has travelled a lot in Madagascar. She has immortalised the faces she has seen in the Antsirabe markets, and created a special link with this mixed and lovable population. We follow her through four journeys, to Burma, Vanuatu, Yemen and Madagascar, all seen creatively but through the eyes of love.

There is so much poetry to awaken your senses that you'll read this book, return to pick at it, and savour it. Take it with you to Madagascar and show it to the Malagasy: they will be so pleased to see themselves so well drawn that their eyes will shine!

Visit Stéphaine Ledoux's site.

Muddling Through in Madagascar, Dervla Murphy

Dervla Murphy and her 14 year-old daughter visited the southern part of Madagascar in the late 1980s so this book is a little out of date but nonetheless fascinating.

It is funny, interesting and shows great respect for the people they meet. They leave us with the feeling that the people and the island are both endearing and enduring.

-- - As they were travelling well before the island became a tourist paradise you can get a real feeling of what life must have been like for the population and learn lots about their customs and manners.

Madagascar, Diary of a voyage by Bastien Dubois

This film is a record of the experiences of this young cartoonist who went to Madagascar to create his first animated film. During 10 months of location spotting, mixed with work in an orphanige in Tana, the creator assembled images about the Malagasy practice of turning the dead, a reburial ritual that is practiced by several ethnic groups. Bastien Dubois' film mixes various techniques to achieve an intimate account of his experience.

- It's a great short film about Madagascar. This 10-minute long Madagascan road-movie has been very successful and its creator has won numerous international prizes and even been selected for the Oscars.

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