Henri Djombo

Henri Djombo is a seasoned politician, novelist and playwright from the Republic of Congo. Djombo was born in 1952 in Enyellé village in the Likouala Region in northern Congo-Brazzaville. He holds a Master’s degree in Forestry Economics from the Forestry Technology Academy in Leningrad, present-day St Petersburg, in the former USSR. Between 1980 and 2021, he served in various ministerial capacities in his native Congo, including as Minister of Water and Forests (1980-1985), Minister of Sustainable Development, Forest Economy and Environment (2009-2016), and Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries (2016-2021). He is a member of the Political Bureau of the Congolese Labour Party (PCT) and has served four terms as a Member of Parliament. He is currently MP for the Enyellé Constituency. He has published ten novels, including Lumières des temps perdu, Vous mourrez dans dix jours, Sur la braise, and Gahi ou l’affaire autochtone, among others. His other plays include Les Bénévoles and Le Mal de terre. Djombo has won many literary prizes such as le Prix Amadou-Cissé-Dia du théâtre (2018), le Prix littéraire Jean-Malonga (2019), and le Prix Toussaint L’Ouverture (2019).