Sara Doke, born in 1968 in France, is a Belgian journalist, translator and author of science fiction and fantasy who is also an activist engaged for authors' rights.

Sara Doke
Born1968 (age 55–56)
France
NationalityBelgium
Occupation(s)Science fiction writer and translator, journalist

Biography

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Sara Doke is the daughter of visual artist and feminist activist for women artists Micheline Doke [fr] (1931–2021).[1]

Trained as a journalist,[2] Sara Doke is also a digital publisher and organiser of cultural events related to fantasy and Imaginary as well as an active advocate for authors rights. She is president of honour of the Syndicat des écrivains de langue française [fr](SELF). She went to court with her husband Ayerdahl, also an SF writer, representing authors against the RELIre digitisation and commercialisation project of unavailable books of the twentieth century.[3] She organised the 2003 Convention nationale française de science-fiction [fr] in Flemalle and helped to organise the Imaginaire festival in Brussels, at the Maison du livre from 1999 to 2002.[4][5]

She chairs the jury for the Prix Julia-Verlanger [fr] awarded each year at the Utopiales festival in Nantes.[5][6]

She translates fantasy albums and English-language novels published throughout the world. She won the Grand prix de l'Imaginaire in 2013 for her translation of The Windup Girl in French by Paolo Bacigalupi.[7]

Science-fiction féministe

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For Sara Doke, the most important feminist science fiction novels are Ann Leckie's Ancillary Justice and Becky Chambers's The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet. She also pays tribute to Joëlle Wintrebert, affirming that without her ‘there wouldn't be many female SF authors in France’. Doke cites Les Olympiades truquées, Le Créateur chimérique and Les Amazones de Bohême as books from Wintreberg having left their mark on her.[8]

In 2015, she published her first feminist science fiction novel, Techno faérie, with Les Moutons électriques [fr].[9] Using numerous documents and illustrations, the author paints a portrait of the 88 main fairies in the collective imagination, integrating them into technological society. In a second book, L'autre moitié du ciel (The other half of the sky), published in 2019, she proposes an inventory of women's imaginary heritage[3],[1].[10][8]

In 2020, along with Sylvie Denis, she was one of two guests at the French National Science Fiction Convention.[11]

Activism

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In 2012, she was elected president of the Syndicat des écrivains de langue française along with Christian Vilà [fr]. However, in 2013, she stepped down from the presidency in favour of Jeanne-A Debats, retaining the honorary presidency. Alongside Ayerdhal, who died in 2015, she took a stand against the abuses of the ReLIRE [fr] project, and in November 2016 succeeded in having the project condemned by the Court of Justice of the European Union.[3][12]

In 2022 she protested against the eviction of Stéphanie Nicot from the festival Les imaginales by publishing a letter of support for Nicot with other authors among whom Floriane Soulas, Silène Edgar, [fr] Sylvie Lainé, Ïan Larue, Estelle Faye, Robin Hobb, Sylvie Denis, Lucie Chenu, Sarah Buschmann [fr], Charlotte Bousquet [fr] and Anne Besson [fr].[13][14][15]

Works

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Novels

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  • Techno Faerie, Les Moutons électriques, collection « La Bibliothèque voltaïque », 2015 ISBN 2-36183-233-X.
  • L'Autre Moitié du ciel, Mu, 2019.[16]
  • La Complainte de Foranza, Leha, 2020.[17]

Anthologies

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  • Fata Morgana, short story in Et d'Avalon à Camelot directed by Lucie Chenu, 2012
  • Grands Peintres féeriques, Les Moutons Électriques, ISBN 2-36183-412-X. 2022

Translations

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References

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  1. ^ Dumont, Fabienne (2014). Des sorcières comme les autres: artistes et féministes dans la France des années 1970. Archives du féminisme. Rennes: Presses universitaires de Rennes. ISBN 978-2-7535-3250-2.
  2. ^ Yvan (2014-02-25). "Interview littéraire 2014 - Sara Doke, traductrice". EmOtionS, blog littéraire (in French). Retrieved 2024-07-21.
  3. ^ a b "ReLIRE : "La machine à broyer le droit des auteurs" hors d'état de nuire (Sara Doke)". ActuaLitté.com (in French). Retrieved 2024-07-21.
  4. ^ "Sara Doke". Utopiales (in French). Archived from the original on November 4, 2023. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
  5. ^ a b "DOKE Sara". Les Imaginales (in French). Archived from the original on 21 July 2024. Retrieved 2024-07-21.
  6. ^ "Sara DOKE | Le Bélial'". belial.fr. Retrieved 2024-07-21.
  7. ^ Voyageurs, Etonnants (2024-07-21). "Les lauréats 2013 du Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire". Etonnants Voyageurs (in French). Retrieved 2024-07-21.
  8. ^ a b Dupont-Besnard, Marcus (2019-07-31). "Quels sont les meilleurs romans de SF féministes ? 7 autrices livrent leurs choix". Numerama (in French). Retrieved 2024-07-21.
  9. ^ "les Moutons électriques | Techno faerie". web.archive.org. 2017-06-04. Retrieved 2024-07-21.
  10. ^ Addictic. "Interview 2016 : Sara Doke pour Techno Faerie". ActuSF – Site sur l'actualité de l'imaginaire (in French). Retrieved 2024-07-21.
  11. ^ "Convention de Science-Fiction 2020: Invitées". Convention de Science-Fiction 2020. Retrieved 2024-07-21.
  12. ^ Assuline, Muriel (15 December 2016). "Une société de gestion collective peut-elle autoriser la reproduction numérique des livres indisponibles du XXe siècle ? Le 16 novembre 2016, la Cour de Justice de l'Union européenne a décidé de mettre fin à ce système de reproduction numérique en méconnaissance des droits exclusifs des auteurs". Les Échos. Archived from the original on 5 November 2017. Retrieved 21 July 2024.
  13. ^ "Affirmer à Stéphanie Nicot "confiance, estime et fidélité"". ActuaLitté.com (in French). Retrieved 2024-07-19.
  14. ^ Prolongeau, Hubert (2022-05-24). "Aux Imaginales d'Épinal, les polémiques éclatent en série". www.telerama.fr (in French). Archived from the original on 20 July 2024. Retrieved 2024-07-20.
  15. ^ "Imaginales d'Épinal : un anniversaire sous tension". Livres Hebdo (in French). Retrieved 2024-07-20.
  16. ^ "L'Autre Moitié du ciel, Sara DOKE". www.noosfere.org. Retrieved 2024-07-21.
  17. ^ "La Complainte de Foranza, Sara DOKE". www.noosfere.org. Retrieved 2024-07-21.
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