A tribute to the ‘so-called’ centenarian gave the opportunity to pay him a memorable visit in L\u00e9zignan Corbi\u00e8res. The Nouvelliste had been there a year earlier\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was a year ago that Frantz Duval, editor-in-chief of this newspaper, called me to find out how to get in touch with Ren\u00e9 Depestre, knowing that I visit him regularly, or at least check in on him from time to time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Passing through France, the journalist indeed wanted to meet him, preparing to celebrate his centenary in Haiti, which everyone believes will take place on August 29, 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, just like when I went to visit him a little earlier that summer in 2025, after the Banquet du livre in Lagrasse, a village in the Corbi\u00e8res near L\u00e9zignan-Corbi\u00e8res (Aude) where the writer has lived for forty years, he said: ‘But I\u2019m already 100! I was born in 1924.’<\/p>\n\n\n\n
No one expected such a revelation, and at the risk of being disrespectful, everyone wondered if, given his age, the poet might have confused things, perhaps? Even though, on the other hand, the conversation with Depestre, who was present and alert, shows absolutely no sign of that. So? So Frantz Duval doesn\u2019t stop there, and as readers of Le Nouvelliste know, back in Haiti after his visit to the poet, he goes on to dig through the archives of his homeland to find the birth certificates of Ren\u00e9 and his brother Maurice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The proof is right there, and on the eve of the Book Banquet on the theme \u2018The House and the World\u2019 https:\/\/www.abbayedelagrasse.fr\/banquet-du-livre-dete-2026who was asking me to organize a tribute to L\u00e9zignan’s neighbor for his 2026 edition (from July 25 to 31) I bring to Ren\u00e9 Depestre, at his Villa Hadriana, the printed acts in question, sent digitally by my colleague: yes, he is indeed from ’24, and his little brother from ’26. The most curious thing being that the writer placed the mistake at the time of his French naturalization (1991), saying that an officer had confused him with his brother. Yet, if you open Rage de vivre (Seghers), his complete poetic works, and even better if you have the original editions in hand, you notice that the preface of \u00c9tincelles, Depestre\u2019s first poetry collection published in Port-au-Prince, mentions the age of the young author: 19 years old. You don’t have to have done advanced math to deduce that, as early as 1945, the fact that Depestre was apparently born in 1926 was public knowledge.This Friday, July 23, the poet is visibly impressed to be able to hold these papers in his hands, and when asked why he let it persist for his whole life, a little vanity of a seducer? \u201cNot at all!,\u201d he replies, \u201cI don\u2019t know where the confusion comes from. But if I haven\u2019t tried to correct it, it\u2019s because 1924 or 1926 didn\u2019t matter to me, what\u2019s the importance\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His youngest son St\u00e9fan, who lives not far from Ren\u00e9 Depestre in the same city, was himself left stunned by these documents suddenly aging his father by two years! Clearly, the ‘marvelous real’ has yet to stop knocking at the poet’s door, because for him, turning 102 on the upcoming August 29th is ‘wonderful! I never thought I\u2019d reach this age.’ A fine age for someone who continues to read\u2014Flaubert is on his table\u2014receive honors, more than enough, between the almost and the real centenary (and who cares!), to be studied from conference to conference, and to be awarded the Goncourt Prize for poetry in 2026. It\u2019s never too late for the author of All\u00e9luia pour une femme jardin (Goncourt Prize for short stories) and Hadriana dans tous mes r\u00eaves, Renaudot Prize 1988.Depestre is still writing short poems; he dedicated one to his nurses and sent his latest ones to Seghers editions for the volume of the Year\u2019s Poetry Anthology, which will be published in early 2027. Let’s bet we\u2019ll see him with this book in hand at the next Lagrasse Book Banquet, by which time he\u2019ll be 103! The essential thing, the writer keeps in his eyes: \u201cbeing a poet is having stars in your sight,\u201d he told us. On Sunday afternoon, July 26, the audience at the Lagrasse Book Banquet was charmed by his voice, recorded with Radio Caillasse and broadcast through large speakers, amidst readings of poems that were even translated into sign language. \u201cM\u00e9si anpil Ren\u00e9 Depestre,\u201d the banyan man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n