Esther Nirina (née Esther Ranirinaharitafika) was born in 1932 on the central highlands of Madagascar.  She worked as a librarian at Orleans from 1953 to 1983. She returned to Madagascar in 1990 and became an important figure in the Malagasy literary scene. A member of the Malagasy Academy, she served as president fo the Society of Writers of the Indian Ocean (SEROI). Her books include Silencieuse respiration (1975), Simple voyelle (1980), Lente spirale (1990), Multiple solitude (1997), Rien que lune: œuvres poétiques (1998), and Mivolana an-tsoratra / Le dire par écrit (2004). She died in 2004.