Author Talk: Néhémy Dahomey

In partnership with Loyola University Chicago, please join us in welcoming the acclaimed author Néhémy Dahomey for a reading and discussion of his recently published work, L’ordre immuable des choses (2026) and the release of a translation of his novel Combats (Duels in English). His works explore history, such as the consequences of the debt imposed on the newly-independent Haitian republic by France in 1825, as well as self-discovery by way of sexuality and literature.

Néhémy will be joined in conversation by Eliana Văgălău, Associate Professor of French at Loyola University Chicago.

Guests will have the chance to mingle with fellow literature lovers and enjoy a complimentary glass of wine, and will have the opportunity to chat (en français ou en anglais!) with the author during the book signing that will follow the discussion and Q&A.

Doors open at 5:00 p.m. Program begins at 5:30 p.m. Please enter via 810 N. Dearborn St.

About the Author

Néhémy Dahomey

(English to follow)

Néhémy Dahomey est écrivain, poète et philosophe. Né à Port-au-Prince en octobre 1986, il vit aujourd’hui entre New York et Paris. Il a étudié la philosophie à l’École Normale Supérieure, parallèlement à ses activités d’acteur. Rapatriés, son premier roman, a été publié en 2017 aux Éditions du Seuil à Paris. Il raconte l’histoire de Belliqueuse Louissaint et de ses deux filles, Bélial et Luciole, sur une période de trente ans, depuis l’époque des boat people jusqu’au tremblement de terre de 2010. Récompensé par de nombreux prix (Société des Gens de Lettres, Carbet des lycéens de la Caraïbe, Prix Ciné del Duca de l’Académie Française), le roman a été salué tant par la critique que par le public. Publié en mars 2021, son deuxième roman, Combats (Éditions du Seuil), explore plus en profondeur l’histoire d’Haïti, pour jeter un regard curieux, à la fois tendre et sardonique, sur les effets de la dette imposée par la France à la nouvelle république indépendante. Le conflit entre deux demi-frères, Ludovic et Balthazar Possible, entraîne le lecteur dans la campagne haïtienne, où des formes de résistance ancestrales émergent dans les endroits les plus inattendus. Combats est sorti en sa traduction anglaise, sous le titre Duels, chez Seagull Books en février 2026 (trad. Nathan Dize). L’ordre immuable des choses (janvier 2026, Éditions du Seuil), troisième et dernier roman de Dahomey, prend un tournant autofictionnel dans lequel Barthélémy Guidal, dit Lélé, le double littéraire de l’auteur, raconte son éveil simultané à la sexualité et à la littérature. Déjà sélectionné pour deux prix, le livre jette un regard lucide, humoristique et incisif sur les possibilités contemporaines qui s’offrent à nous pour canaliser nos pulsions érotiques.

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Néhémy Dahomey is a writer, poet, and philosopher. Now living between New York and Paris, he was born in Port-au-Prince in October 1986. He studied philosophy at the École Normale Supérieure, in parallel with his activities as an actor. Rapatriés, his first novel, was published in 2017 by the Éditions du Seuil in Paris and it recounts the story of Belliqueuse Louissaint and her two daughters, Bélial and Luciole, over a period of thirty years, from the days of the boat people to the earthquake of 2010. The recipient of multiple awards (Société des Gens de Lettres, Carbet des lycéens de la Caraïbe, Ciné del Duca Prize of the Académie Française), the novel was met with both critical and public acclaim.  

Published in March 2021, his second novel, Combats (Éditions du Seuil), digs further into Haiti’s history, to shed an inquisitive, yet tender, light, and highly sardonic look on the effects of the debt imposed by France on the newly independent republic.  The conflict between two half-brothers, Ludovic and Balthazar Possible, leads the reader into the Haitian countryside, where ancestral forms of resistance emerge in the most unexpected places. Combats will be out in its English translation, Duels, from Seagull Books in February 2026 (trans. Nathan Dize).

L’ordre immuable des choses (January 2026, Éditions du Seuil), Dahomey’s third and latest novel, takes an autofictional turn whereby Barthélémy Guidal, the author’s literary double, recounts a simultaneous awakening to both sexuality and literature. Already shortlisted for two prizes, the book is a lucid, humorous, and trenchant look at contemporary possibilities for the deployment of our erotic impulses.

About the Moderator

Eliana Văgălău is Associate Professor of French at Loyola University Chicago. Her research on francophone Caribbean literature and contemporary philosophy focuses on the relationship between aesthetics and politics, as well as on questions of transnationalism, diaspora, and sexuality. She has published articles on the work of authors such as Maryse Condé, James Noël, and Jean-Claude Charles, and has coedited a reader’s guide to the latter’s body of work (Liverpool University Press, 2022). As a founding member of the Collectif Jean-Claude Charles, she dedicates much of her work to making visible the work of this fundamental Haitian author. She has published translations of literary and philosophical texts and is currently completing an essay on contemporary French Caribbean fiction. By teaching a course on Black Paris, her extensive collaborations with contemporary Black artists and writers living in France today, as well as serving as co-organizer of the Black Europe Symposium in 2023 at Loyola University Chicago, she has developed a secondary research interest in the city of Paris as a chief site of Black transnational encounters.

Get Here

The Alliance Française de Chicago is one block from the CTA Red line stop at Chicago Ave. Closest bus stops are the 22 on Clark St and the 66 on Chicago Ave.

Parking Information

$10 for 12 hours InterPark at 100 W Chestnut St. Validation is available at reception.

Photography Notice

Please be advised that students, members, and attendees at cultural events or programs may be photographed, and these images may be used for marketing purposes.