Kaya Days: A Murder in Mauritius

In 1999, the Mauritian seggae musician Joseph Réginald Topize, known as Kaya, was arrested for smoking weed while performing. Following his death in police custody days later, the island nation surged in a long-overdue demand for justice. In Kaya Days (Two Lines Press), the latest translation from Carl de Souza, the spirit of Mauritius and its many people—Hindu, Muslim, Chinese, Franco-Mauritian, and Creole—is distilled into a young woman’s daylong search for her younger brother, who has gone missing amid the chaos. In conversation with Anita Felicelli.

This event is part of Litquake’s Words Around the World series, sponsored by the Center for the Art of Translation. More information about the Words Around the World series can be found at litquake.org(opens in a new tab).