Freland François-Xavier

FRANÇOIS-XAVIER FRELAND is a major independent reporter for several media outlets, including Jeune Afrique, France Inter, and TV5 Monde. He mostly covers Western Africa, the Indian Ocean, and Latin America. Trained in history and journalism, he worked for France Info’s world service before hosting the weekend news roundup for their nonstop news station. In 2007, he became the correspondant for the international TV channel France 24, first in Mali and then Venezuela. Moving behind the camera, he made over a hundred short documentaries, including several about the realities of Touareg lives deep in the Sahara.
He has also written several book-length essays: Mali au-delà du Jihad (Mali Beyond Jihad, Anamosa, 2017), Qui veut la peau d’Hugo Chavez (Who Wants the Head of Hugo Chavez?, Cherche Midi Éditeur, 2012), Saisir l’immatériel, un essai sur le patrimoine oral et immatériel de l’humanité (Grasping the Intangible: An Essay on Humanity’s Oral and Intangible Heritage, Éditions Unesco, 2009), Sarava! (Naïve livres, 2005), L’Africaine blanche (The White African Woman, Éditions Autrement, 2004), and Générations Beurs (Arab Generations in France, Éditions Autrement, 2003). In September 2018, his first novel, L’absent, was published by Éditions EnvolEmoi. The Travelers’ Tree is his first children’s book.