Literary rendez-vous in Senegal
Seven writers from Quebec and Canada took part from January 8 to 15, 2017 in the Les rendez-vous littéraires au Sénégal operation, initiated by éditions Mémoire d’encrier and L’Espace de la diversité in collaboration with Librairie Athéna in Dakar.
Authors Yara El-Ghadban, Jonathan Lamy, Tristan Malavoy, Monia Mazigh, Blaise Ndala, Rodney Saint-Éloi, Olivia Tapiero were paired with Senegalese authors Mariètou Mbaye Biléoma, Louis Camara, Rahmatou Seck Samb, Felwine Sarr.
Program: Readings, talks, round tables, visits to schools, colleges, bookstores… Some one hundred Quebec and Canadian titles were presented to the Senegalese public.
The books and authors came from several publishing houses, including Mémoire d’encrier, Noroît, XYZ, Boréal, David, L’interligne, Septentrion, VLB, Remue-Ménage, Lux and Écosociété.
These meetings were an invitation to discuss books and the necessity of reading, in Dakar and Gorée, two Senegalese cities that have left their mark on the world’s imagination.
Quebec, Canadian and Senegalese writers criss-crossed the cities together, using their words and convictions to begin something resembling a more meaningful human vision.
This event was made possible with the support of the Canada Council for the Arts as part of the “Fond stratégique international” program, the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, Les offices jeunesse internationaux du Québec, the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie, Éditions Vives Voix, Librairie aux 4 Vents, the Réseau des clubs de lectures et de philosophie, the Canadian Embassy in Senegal and the Bureau du Québec à Dakar.
