Yanick Lahens is the first person to occupy this chair, created in partnership with the Agence universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF). The Collège de France and the AUF aim to illustrate the diversity and richness of Francophone Worlds by giving a platform to researchers from countries sharing the French language. Created for a period of three years, each year this chair will welcome a leading voice from the French-speaking world, from different fields of literature, arts and sciences.
As language remains the primary link in this Francophone space, a leading figure in Haitian literature, who won the 2014 Prix Femina for Bain de lune (Sabine Wespieser éditeur), has been invited to inaugurate the chair: Yanick Lahens, "a remarkable figure in French-language literature and culture", according to Prof. Antoine Compagnon, holder of the chair Littérature française moderne et contemporaine: histoire, critique, théorie.
Yanick Lahens' opening lecture and all his lectures will be widely broadcast thanks to the support of RFI (France Médias Monde), TV5MONDE, the AUF network of digital Francophone campuses, and the Institut français, all of which are committed to disseminating the work of the Francophone Worlds Chair.