Dated Atavito Barnabé-Akayi

Daté Atavito Barnabé-Akayi (born September 24, 1978) is a Beninese teacher and writer, known for his plays and poetry.

He grew up in Kpalimé.

He is his mother's only child, but has several siblings on his father's side.

He showed a strong interest in reading early on, even though he was not particularly passionate about his studies.

Thanks to his maternal uncle, aunt, and other relatives who took him under their wing, he completed his studies successfully and enrolled at the University of Abomey-Calavi in the Department of Modern Literature.

After a brief career in journalism, where he handled the culture section of several newspapers, he became a high school and college teacher.

He is the author of plays and poetry.

In 2010, he came to public attention with his collection of two plays, Amour en infraction and Les confessions du PR (Plumes Soleil, Cotonou, 2010).

"While the first play openly discusses an unlikely love affair between a teacher and her student, the second portrays the figure of an African head of state, guilty of mismanagement and humiliating the First Lady, his wife, through his antics and recurrent infidelities. Overwhelmed and detested, he appears more pitiable than dangerous, seeking hypothetical redemption by confessing to a priest. The play addresses power, its intoxicating effects, and the inconsistencies it engenders."

The same year, another play, Quand Dieu a faim (Plumes Soleil, Cotonou, 2010), was published.

Here, the text addresses the controversial theme of homosexuality.

"Why is the sexual orientation of certain citizens subject to so much condemnation? If homosexuality is part of the diversity of practices and is a personal choice, the author concludes, people should be tolerant, especially when claiming to build a society that respects human rights".

After the trilogy Noire comme la rosée, Tristesse ma maîtresse (Plumes Soleil, Cotonou, 2010), and Solitude mon S… (Plumes Soleil, Cotonou, 2012), Daté explores another aspect of his "self" through ''Tes lèvres où j’ai passé la nuit.

In 2011, L’Affaire Bissi, a collection of five short stories, was published by Ruisseaux d'Afrique.

Social constraints and strange practices poisoning daily life are the backdrop for the texts in this collection, written simply but full of sensitivity and seriousness.

The author is prolific; he is the only Beninese writer to have published five works in recent years.

It is mainly in poetry that this writer's talent shines.

Daté Atavito Barnabé-Akayi's poetry is strong, dense, and constructed like a continuous flow of words from an inexhaustible source.

The flow of words seems unstoppable, carrying with it all the emotions and feelings of the poet.

This is not about the other, but about oneself, even if the other – depicted as a child, a beloved woman, close or distant – is related to oneself in its various nuances.

Imonlè 158'' (Plumes Soleil, Cotonou, 2014).

The tone here is much more festive, reflecting a newfound inner balance provoked by the presence of the lover, this long-sought and sublimated Eve, whose proximity calls for an explosion of the senses.

The author delivers a powerful voice, playing endlessly with a phrasing without punctuation.

In fact, without stating it, he invites the reader to infuse the text with their own rhythm, creating breaks, adding commas and periods, in short, making the reader a poet.

For, however one approaches this text, unexpected meanings emerge, new ideas appear, offering the reader a rich approach to the work in its multiple facets.

Let another poet, Sophie Heidi Kam, a Burkinabe author, express her appreciation: "the poetry, that of Daté reassures me that I am not alone, and that what I feel and write in poetry is not just the outpouring of an isolated soul in the grip of delirium. This is the charm, the beauty, and the tragic aspect of his poetry: In poetry, there is no room for deceit when you allow the heart to open up and speak.".