Esther Razanadrasoa

Esther Razanadrasoa, pen name Anja-Z (1892–1931), was a Malagasy poet and novelist who wrote in the Malagasy language. She was also the editor in chief of the literary journal Tsara Hafatra.^[1][2]

Born in Antananarivo, Madagascar in 1892, Esther Razanadrasoa was brought up in a Hova environment by a father who was a journalist, writer and composer, and by a mother who inspired her to adopt the pen name of Anja-Z. Following in her father's footsteps, she wrote novels, plays and poetry.^[1] While her poetry was not published during her lifetime, she published a number of novels, several of them considered highly successful. She was also editor in chief of the Malagasy literary journal Tsara Hafatra.^[2] Much of her poetry is in the kindriandina tradition, consisting of romantic thoughts and aspirations as frequently practised by young Hova women.^[1]

In her novel L'Orage, the Swiss writer Douna Loup tells the story of Esther Razanadrasoa and her lover Jean-Joseph Rabearivelo, a budding local poet. It is based mainly on some 1,200 pages of his diary which revealed that Esther lived an exceptionally free life for a woman in the 1920s, marrying quite late.^[3]

Following her untimely death on 14 April 1931, Rabearivelo told of his close relationship with Razanadrasoa and published three of her poems which he had translated into French.^[1] According to Rabearivelo's own account, she died from the abortive substances she took in an attempt to prevent pregnancy after sleeping with him.^[4]