HISTORY, HERITAGE AND LITERATURE: Farewell to Nicolas Couronne, “an outstretched hand to the past”

The funeral of Nicolas Couronne, former employee of Air Mauritius, who recently distinguished himself during the literary competition for the 2025 Jean-Fanchette Prize, for his work Le Regard de l'ancetère slave will take place, at Saint-Thérèse Church, in Curepipe, tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. The wake will be held at Moura Funeral Services, in Petite-Rivière, today from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.

On March 21, the Intercontinental Slavery Museum (ISM) announced the death of Nicolas Couronne, who had doubly marked the news of the institution the previous month, with the launch of his work, Le Regard de l'ancetre slave and an exhibition on this project started in 2018. â¨Former employee of Air Mauritius, Nicolas Couronne was involved in the educational sector occupying the position of Manager of the Saint-Esprit college in Rivière-Noire. During this time, he had developed a passion, if not an obsession, for historical research. The trigger was a photo.

In October 2025, on the occasion of the proclamation of the results of the Jean Fanchette Prize organized by Issa Asgarally, instigator and coordinator of the prize, in collaboration with the municipality of Beau-Bassin-Rose-Hill, Nicolas Couronne testified about his manuscript:

“This text is not Fiction. It's a true story. That of slavery. And, if I may, I will tell you how the idea came to me. In 2018, a friend sent me a Facebook message and by clicking on it, I came across a photo of an African lady, in Victorian dress. A centenarian. I'm going to be shocked looking at his face. She looked strangely like my father's parents who lived in Mahébourg. And there, when I look at her name, I see that her name is Constance Couronne. "So, put yourself in my place: I'm going to be troubled. Who is this character? Why does it look like mine? And why is she in Victorian clothes? And there, that face is going to make me become an archive rat. I'm going to do some research, try to find out the story behind this person. And she has a fascinating story, a true story. It’s a part of our history that we don’t know.”

His research will take him to Australia, in 2023, "to give back his voice to Constance" and he will develop a relationship with the descendants of this slave ancestor, a Mauritian child deported to the continent in the 19th century.

For him, this work, which he began writing in March 2025, is at the crossroads of history and memory. “A human adventure,” he says. “It was like an outstretched hand from the past. I wanted to know his story,” he added. Two months later, he announced the publication of his work. And, in February, to mark the 191st anniversary of the abolition of slavery, the ISM in collaboration