Khal Torabully is a poet, essayist, film director, and semiologist who has authored some twenty-five books and has won several awards in France, Switzerland, and Mauritania. He was born in Mauritius in 1956, in the capital city Port Louis. His father was a Trinidadian sailor and his mother was a descendant of migrants from India and Malaya. He is credited as the originator of the term “coolitude”. Torabully’s heritage permeates his work, whereby he seeks to transform the suffering of indentured laborers into a strong and resilient cultural identity.