Born in Kinshasa in 1975, Albertine M. Itela spent her childhood between Belgium, Germany, and the ex-Zaire before settling in France. After graduating in political sociology at the Sorbonne, she published several articles for Radio France Outremer before becoming an actress, theater teacher, and dramatist. “Gare du Nord,” published in Kanyar, is her first published short story. She is currently working on a collection of stories about women at the time of the independence of Congo-Zaire.
Cimetière de Montmartre, Paris, France / Photo by Linda Gerbec / Unsplash
Gare du Nord (an excerpt)
It’s 12:30 p.m. and her pale-blue blouse is soaked in sweat, her white li…