Marie-Thérèse Julien Lung-Fou

Born in Fort-de-France, she received her artistic education at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. In 1938, she received a bronze medal at the Paris International Exposition of the Salon of the Society of French Artists for her work L’Offrande (The Offering) in the Art Deco style. She married her husband Julien at that time, taking the name Lung-Fou to honor her two grandfathers, one born in Dieppe, the other in Canton, and her mixed-race Martinician grandmothers.

She was the island's first author of Chinese origin, making a name for herself in Creole theatre, with stories and poems also in Creole. In 1969, she published a play entitled Trois Bonnes Fortunes, showing a playful sense of humour in three social satires, followed in 1973 by Fables créoles transposées et illustrées. This book translates La Fontaine's French tales into Creole, with illustrations by the author.

During an event in 2018 to mark the naming of a library in Les Trois-Îlets in her honour, the author, Raphaël Confiant spoke of her as a precursor of Creolité, a person who accepted multiple identities as her own. She is also known as a collector and writer of créole tales who worked to preserve and maintain creole culture, in Carnival, in her own conduct and through storytelling.

In its page about the dedication, the town's site quotes Julien Lung-Fou speaking about her interest in tales:

"The love of my country has led me to study our popular traditions. To all those who may not have known the wonderful time when the das used to lull our childhood with the stories of Compè Lapin, Ti-Jean, Gens-Gros-Mône, I offer collections, stories, proverbs, riddles (or titimes) as they were told to me, in which all the spirit, all the faux naive mischief of the Creole people, shines through.

— Marie-Thérèse Julien Lung-Fou

Her writing is used to teach Martinician Creole; it is a part of the literary history of the language as well as an inspiration to contemporary writers.

Books

1956 Dialogue. Revue culturelle chez Madame Julien Lung-Fou.

1950s Les recettes de cuisine martiniquaise de Da Elodie

1958 Fables créoles

1973 Fables créoles transposées et illustrées

1979 Le carnaval aux antilles

1980 La santé de maman et bébé par les plantes (in collaboration with Renée Beuze)

1977 A preface for René Bonneville's (1871-1902) La Vierge cubaine

1980 Contes créoles

1980 Contes diaboliques

1980 Contes animaux, proverbes, titimes ou devinettes

Nouvelles fables créoles

Theatre

1969 3 bonnes fortunes : trois comédies en un acte ; three comedies of manners written with Albert Adréa: Le crucifix, Le Saint Joseph and Pauvres pisseuses.

Poetry

1958 Musique noire : (poèmes)

1976 Les piments doux : 25 fantaisies de

Marie-Thérèse Julien Lung-Fou: A biography written as part of the Archives of Women Artists, Research and Exhibitions “The Origin of Others” research programme, in partnership with the Clark Art Institute.