APA-Marrakech (Morocco) The eyes of the literary community will be riveted on the city of Marrakech as it hosts the second edition of the ‘Festival du Livre Africain’ (FLAM – February 8 to 11).
It is an international agora for African literature bringing together writers, thinkers and artists and hundreds of books and arts lovers from Morocco, Africa and the world.
Organised by the “WE ART AFRICANS” Association, FLAM, founded by Moroccan writer and visual artist Mahi Binebine, journalist Fatimata Sagna, academic Hanane Essaydi and cultural entrepreneur Younes Ajarrai, is positioned as an author platform bringing together renowned writers from the continent and the diaspora.
The FLAM 2024 program includes literary cafés, interviews, signings and an ephemeral bookshop, as well as a youth program featuring educational activities and interventions “outside the walls,” in universities and schools.
The evenings of the festival will be enlivened by musical performances, readings and poetry. This year, writers and the public will have the opportunity to meet in a variety of daily formats.
FLAM will see the presence of several figures of African literature such as José-Eduardo Agualusa (Angola), Leïla Bahsaïn (Morocco), Abdelkader Benali (Morocco), Souleymane Bachir Diagne (Senegal), Ali Benmakhlouf (Morocco), Sophie Bessis (Tunisia), Siham Bouhlal (Morocco), Boum Hemley (Cameroon), Yasmine Chami (Morocco), Touhfat Mouhtare (Comoros), Fanta Dramé (Mauritania), Wilfried N’Sondé (Republic of Congo), Saad Khiari (Algeria) and Mia Couto (Mozambique).
According to Younes Ajarrai, the festival’s general delegate, this cultural event is of great importance in that it “helps to bring the peoples of the continent closer together, enabling each side to get to know the other and explore its imagination and way of writing and expressing itself.”
In an interview with the Moroccan Press Agency (MAP), he emphasised the objectives of FLAM, which aims to contribute to “achieving this rapprochement between the components of the African continent, with its secular history and many assets,” adding that it is “an opportunity to get to know each other better and combat negative
stereotypes about the continent.”
For him, writers are ideally qualified to take on this role, as “through their creations and their imagination, they take us into the world of other cultures, with their differences and their commonalities.”
Commenting on the new features of this year’s event, Mr. Ajarraï said that one of the most important was the launch of the ‘Hors les Murs’ (Outside the Walls) program, as “this year we’ll be going out to meet audiences who might feel far removed from culture.”
He explained that 25 of the city’s high schools have been mobilised, as well as two universities, Cadi Ayyad University in Marrakech and Mohammed VI Polytechnic University in Benguerir, adding that the program includes various activities such as writing workshops, master classes and literary cafés.
Another innovation at this year’s event is the Giant Dictation competition, a world first, he explained, adding that the dictation will be held in three languages: Arabic, French and English.
“We decided not to limit ourselves to the French language alone, but to broaden the idea to include our Arabic language and the widespread English language. In this way, we’re celebrating linguistic diversity in Africa,” he says.
To make a success of this competition, which will take place on February 10 and welcome three thousand participants, the FLAM general delegate noted that 50 teachers of Arabic, English and French have been mobilised for two months to prepare the text that will be used in the competition.
It’s a text on the theme of “Mon Afrique à Moi,” (My Very Own Africa) which encourages us to get to know each other better, dispel negative stereotypes and at the same time encourage reading and writing”, he
says.
HA/fss/as/APA