• Home
  • City
    • ALBANIA
    • AMSTERDAM
    • ANDORRA
    • ANNECY
    • ANTWERP
    • ATHENS
    • AUSTRIA
    • AVIGNON
    • BARCELONA
    • BELARUS
    • BELGIUM
    • BERLIN
    • BILBAO
    • BORDEAUX
    • BRNO
    • BRUSSELS
    • BUDAPEST
    • BULGARIA
    • CAEN
    • CALAIS
    • CROATIA
    • CZECH_REPUBLIC
    • DEBRECEN
    • DENMARK
    • DIJON
    • DUBLIN
    • ESTONIA
    • FINLAND
    • FLORENCE
    • FRANKFURT
    • GENEVA
    • GENOA
    • GERMANY
    • GLASGOW
    • GREECE
    • HANNOVER
    • HELSINKI
    • HUNGARY
    • ICELAND
    • INNSBRUCK
    • IRELAND
    • ISTANBUL
    • KRAKOW
    • LIECHTENSTEIN
    • LILLE
    • LIMERICK
    • LISBOA
    • LITHUANIA
    • LONDON
    • LUXEMBOURG
    • LYON
europe-cities.com
  • Home
  • City
    • ALBANIA
    • AMSTERDAM
    • ANDORRA
    • ANNECY
    • ANTWERP
    • ATHENS
    • AUSTRIA
    • AVIGNON
    • BARCELONA
    • BELARUS
    • BELGIUM
    • BERLIN
    • BILBAO
    • BORDEAUX
    • BRNO
    • BRUSSELS
    • BUDAPEST
    • BULGARIA
    • CAEN
    • CALAIS
    • CROATIA
    • CZECH_REPUBLIC
    • DEBRECEN
    • DENMARK
    • DIJON
    • DUBLIN
    • ESTONIA
    • FINLAND
    • FLORENCE
    • FRANKFURT
    • GENEVA
    • GENOA
    • GERMANY
    • GLASGOW
    • GREECE
    • HANNOVER
    • HELSINKI
    • HUNGARY
    • ICELAND
    • INNSBRUCK
    • IRELAND
    • ISTANBUL
    • KRAKOW
    • LIECHTENSTEIN
    • LILLE
    • LIMERICK
    • LISBOA
    • LITHUANIA
    • LONDON
    • LUXEMBOURG
    • LYON

PARIS

“There remains a certain editorial imperialism in London, Paris or Barcelona”

Sugar Mizzy December 5, 2021

To stay up to date with African news, subscribe to the “Monde Afrique” newsletter from this link. Each at 6 am, find a week of current events and debates treated by the editorial staff of “World Africa”.

Senegalese writer Mohamed Mbougar Sarr, 2021 Goncourt Prize for “The Most Secret Memory of Men”, in Paris, September 17, 2021.
Senegalese writer Mohamed Mbougar Sarr, 2021 Goncourt Prize for “The Most Secret Memory of Men”, in Paris, September 17, 2021. JOEL SAGET / AFP

Nobel Prize for Literature for the Tanzanian Abdulrazak Gurnah, Booker Prize for the South African Damon Galgut and Booker Prize International for the Senegalese David Diop, while his compatriots Boubacar Boris Diop and Mohamed Mbougar Sarr were awarded the Neustaat Prize respectively and the Goncourt Prize, and the Mozambican Paulina Chiziane the Camões Prize…

The year 2021 will have been rapid for African letters. According to Pierre Astier, literary agent and former publisher (Le Serpent à plumes), “We are witnessing the emergence of a new generation, brilliant and intellectual, that Mohamed Mbougar Sarr embodies perfectly”.

How to explain that so many prestigious awards have been estimated at African feathers this year?

Pierre Astier. That there are good African writers or of African origin is not new. But it was a rather disparate phenomenon. Or, there, there is very clearly an evolution as well among expatriate writers, in Europe or the United States, as among those living in Africa. These authors read each other, exchange a lot, appreciate each other, encourage each other. It is a singularity. They are very united and produce works of great maturity.

Read also Article reserved for our subscribers Mohamed Mbougar Sarr, Prix Goncourt 2021: “Africa is not to be set apart in the history of literature”

We are witnessing the emergence of a new generation, brilliant and intellectual, that Mohamed Mbougar Sarr embodies perfectly. The latter advances with ease. We cannot even say of him, as some might be tempted to do, that he is an alibi. I believe that the French literary class recognized him as one of their own. It was already a bit the case for Alain Mabanckou, but unlike the latter, Mohamed Mbougar Sarr is very sober. What is recognized is what he writes. Nothing else.

What sets this new generation of writers apart?

I think they freed themselves from what was confined to them. There is more universality in what they write. They have become full-fledged writers and not African writers who necessarily have to write about African stories.

Were you surprised by this Nobel in Adbulrazak Guah?

Yes, I have been. I had discovered Abdulrazak Gurnah thanks to Abdourahman Waberi who had invited me to read and meet during a trip to England in the 1990s. At the time, Paradis had been published by Denoël and had had little success. With Le Serpent à plumes, we have reissued it in pocket size. I am very happy for him but I do not understand that [l’écrivain kenyan] Nguigi wa Thiong’o had not won the Nobel …

Mohamed Mbougar Sarr’s novel is a co-edition with an African publisher, Jimsaan. Other award-winning writers, like Blaise Ndala or Hemley Boum with whom you work, also have the choice of an African house for publishing and distribution on the continent. Why ?

Of the 6,000 languages ​​that exist in the world, ten dominate the publishing environment, of which four – English, French, Spanish and Portuguese – are present on several continents. Or, there remains a certain editorial imperialism on the part of publishers in London, Paris or Barcelona, ​​who want to retain global rights for their language.

Read also Article reserved for our subscribers Tanzanian Abdulrazak Gurnah, Nobel Prize for Literature, novelist of wars, migration and the games of colonialism

We must put an end to this by allowing publishers from different continents to work on their own territory. This is what we did for Blaise Ndala. Le Seuil initially wanted world rights for his novel In the belly of the Congo. It seemed legitimate to us that he had his son in Canada where he lives, Mémoire inkwell, and that he has another for Central and West Africa, Vallesse in Abidjan. The Ivory Prize he has just received will thus benefit this publisher.

How is the African publishing environment evolving?

This is changing, especially with prizes like the Ivory Prize gaining in importance, and thanks to extremely successful actors. On the French-speaking side, it is a little more laborious than on the English-speaking side, where the sector is professionalized, structured, with important fairs. The English know how to train people who will become partners.

Read also The Booker Prize rewards South African author Damon Galgut

So there is a great international cooperation between publishers in South Africa, Nigeria, United States, Canada, England, Australia, New Zealand, etc. And there is still a lack of a solid distribution network with resources in French-speaking Africa. But there is a realization that the book is very important for education, obviously, training, but also for the economy in general.

Is there a market for translation or editing in African languages?

Here again, vocations are needed. They are appearing with people realizing that it is necessary to edit in Wolof, Bambara, etc. In India, where English is only one idiom among ten or even fifteen others, publishing in vernacular languages ​​is phenomenal. We have not yet taken the full measure in the West. These “little” languages ​​of the editorial community must exist, which are spoken by hundreds of millions of people. The preservation of cultures is at stake.

A large number of classic authors of African literature were first published by European publishers, such as Léopold Sédar Senghor at Le Seuil. Could these publishers be willing to cede African rights to local houses so Africa can have more access to its literary heritage?

It is a great debate which has only just begun! There are significant funds at Plon, at Le Seuil, a little less at Gallimard and few at Grasset. Our agency, Astier-Pécher, is campaigning to detach the rights of Parisian publishing houses and for rights holders to try to take them back.

This idea is slowly gaining ground. You know, the French edition is full of people on the left who will not want to be criticized for being wealthy and conservative. Because the question is there: will they keep the rights and therefore act conservatively? We will have to discuss it.

Every Sunday, the meeting place for ideas from “Africa World”

The World Africa you propose a meeting, every Sunday at 9 am, to devote to the debate of ideas on the continent and in its diasporas. A unique look that will take the form of an interview, a portrait, a platform or an analysis: it is “the meeting place of ideas”.

Severine Kodjo-Grandvaux

Related Posts

PARIS /

“We are on the right path for Paris-2024” assures coach Henk Nooren

PARIS /

Two police officers placed in police custody for passive corruption in the case of the pounds

PARIS /

Netanyahu-Macron meeting in Paris this Thursday

‹ Nice vs Strasbourg – Preview, Tips and Odds › He takes an Uber to go from Marseille to Brittany!

Recent Posts

  • The festivals in Northern Norway and Sami art – ht.no
  • Heavy snowfall on the mountains overnight to Monday in Northern Norway – Address
  • When the pasta came to Norway: – We thought it was a vegetable – forskning.no
  • Subwoolfer takes off his masks for the first time | Universal Music Norway – NTB Communications
  • Northern Norway: Average price for electricity of 34.9 øre per kWh Sunday – Address

Categories

  • ALBANIA
  • AMSTERDAM
  • ANDORRA
  • ANNECY
  • ANTWERP
  • ATHENS
  • AUSTRIA
  • AVIGNON
  • BARCELONA
  • BELARUS
  • BELGIUM
  • BILBAO
  • BORDEAUX
  • BRNO
  • BRUSSELS
  • BUDAPEST
  • BULGARIA
  • CAEN
  • CALAIS
  • City
  • COLOGNE
  • COPENHAGEN
  • CORK
  • CROATIA
  • CZECH_REPUBLIC
  • DEBRECEN
  • DENMARK
  • DIJON
  • ESTONIA
  • FINLAND
  • FLORENCE
  • FRANKFURT
  • GENEVA
  • GENOA
  • GREECE
  • HELSINKI
  • HUNGARY
  • ICELAND
  • INNSBRUCK
  • ISTANBUL
  • KRAKOW
  • LIECHTENSTEIN
  • LISBOA
  • LITHUANIA
  • LUXEMBOURG
  • LYON
  • MALTA
  • MARSEILLE
  • MILAN
  • MOLDOVA
  • MONACO
  • MUNICH
  • NAPLES
  • NETHERLANDS
  • NICE
  • NORWAY
  • PARIS
  • PISA
  • POLAND
  • PORTUGAL
  • PRAGUE
  • ROME
  • ROUEN
  • RUSSIA
  • SALZBURG
  • SAN_MARINO
  • SIENA
  • SLOVAKIA
  • SLOVENIA
  • STRASBOURG
  • SWEDEN
  • SWITZERLAND
  • THESSALONIKI
  • TOULOUSE
  • TURKEY
  • UK_ENGLAND
  • UKRAINE
  • VENICE
  • VERONA
  • VIENNA
  • WARSAW
  • ZURICH

Archives

  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • November 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • September 2008
  • June 2008
  • April 2008
  • March 2007
  • January 2002
  • January 1970

↑