Nathacha Appanah

Nathacha Devi Pathareddy Appanah (born 24 May 1973 in Mahébourg, Mauritius) is a Mauritian-French author. She spent most of her teenage years in Mauritius and also worked as a journalist/columnist at Le Mauricien and Week-End Scope before emigrating to France. She was a contributor to the poetry and news section during her tenure in the magazines.

Since 1998, Nathacha Appanah has been well-known as an active writer. Her first book Les Rochers de Poudre d'Or (published by Éditions Gallimard) received the "Prix RFO du livre". The book was based on the arrival of Indian indentured workers in Mauritius. Her other works like The Last Brother, detailing struggles during the Nazi attack and migration to Czechoslovakia, and Tropic of Violence, based on children on the streets of Mayotte, are critically acclaimed. In 2025 her novel La Nuit au Coeur won the Prix Femina, the Prix Goncourt des Lycéens and the Prix Renaudot des Lycéens.