We all know, whether we are passionate about reading or not, the books that mark our lives sometimes play an essential role in our journeys, like a compass capable of guiding us, or at least of accompanying our wanderings. While the 37th edition of the Youth Book and Press Fair is being held in Montreuil, how are publishers, authors, illustrators and book professionals mobilizing to offer literature that is representative of all, from an early age?
In the aisles, Montreuil show, the beautiful and colorful cover of the first children’s novel Our burnt days by Laura Nsafou is everywhere! It is even part of the list of read and recommended novels, to be savored in the “KI book in” reading area available to teenage visitors. And yet, the hook is dismal! We are in 2049, the Sun has disappeared. Elikia and her mother set off to discover a world swallowed up by night, populated by monstrous creatures, mysterious deities on the roads of Casamance, Benin, or Cameroon.
But who are the “Creative spirits” who seized the imagination of the French writer Laura Nsafou? Where did she get this initiatory story in search of the Sun in a post-apocalyptic world where even the Moon no longer does its job! We are not surprised when she explains to us that the first lines were written during the first confinement, in March 2020, at the start of the pandemic, that she wished to overcome this throbbing paralysis and instill hope.
Laura Nsafou, French author and Afro-feminist activist
Originally from Martinique and Congo, Laura Nsafou regrets not having had a model, as a child, in the books she read. As a little girl, she even wondered if the problem did not come from her, since she did not meet heroine who looked like her. So she very quickly began to write stories with characters who would help her feel less alone, who could help her grow up, far from the clichés and stereotypes of a distant Africa.
Frédéric Cambourakis who reissued the success of Laura Nsafou Like a million black butterflies, which first appeared on the internet, notes an evolution in recent years but believes that the approach must above all be sincere, refined, and not respond to fads in order to promote the emergence of a more respectful literature of the balance of society.
The book, a tool for building oneself
For Marianne Zuzula, from The City Burns, many independent publishing houses take risks so that the most varied imaginaries and ideas find their way into children’s brains. Thereby Roule Ginette, contemporary and eco-feminist version of the famous Galette roll (Les Albums du Père Castor) sets the record straight. In the Russian tale, “The Old Man” gave orders to “The Old Woman” and asked for his cake, firmly seated in his chair. Anne Dory and Mirion Malle stir up all these little people and offer a less dusty version: their Ginette, the heroine has white hair and desires for freedom!
Another album, from the same publisher, My mom is weird where the issue of gender is addressed. Mom has lots of tattoos, she goes to demonstrations, she says bad words … and in addition, we sometimes take her for a boy! In another book, The rules … what an adventure, young black, white, fat girls, with hair, without hair, wonder about menstrual cycles, sexuality, the role of religions. For this publishing house, of course, we have already been wondering about our differences.
Work on a literature representative of all
Juliette Grégoire, editions The Initial, presents a wonderful album The boy who wanted to dress up as a queen. For the carnival Nino wants to dress up as a queen. He is preparing an official declaration to be made as a family. In this manifesto of royal and revolutionary independence, he solemnly declares ” Article 1: girls and boys are born equal in the right of disguise. Article 2: on carnival day, the little ones choose and the big ones obey. Article 3: accordingly, I will disguise myself as a queen “. Warm, deep, velvety colors for a story that illustrates fabulously the idea of living together.
A philosopher by training, Juliette Grégoire proudly claims her editorial choices where equality rhymes with respect, friendship, justice and fraternity. ” Childhood is a social issue. They are the citizens of tomorrow. It is to them that we pass on what we have done and the nonsense too. So, it’s important that they do a little less than us! “Editor for 13 years, she regrets that things are moving a little too slowly in terms of the representation of diversity. In the world of books, the characters all tend to look alike. But she too emphasizes the role of independent publishing houses that try, experiment and do research. ” It is time that everyone remembered that the small independent edition is a real guarantee of quality, library diversity, enrichment and networking in the territory. These are important values that should not be dropped, because it is our common library that is at stake. “.
Awaken the eyes
Mathilde Chèvre, at the origin of the house The port has yellowed, based in Marseille, is interested in the notion of weaving cultures together. At the origin of his project, the desire to share the Arabic language, and more specifically Arabic poetry, ” a huge meadow to walk “. The port has yellowed publishes albums playing with the double meaning of reading French and Arabic. There is no right or wrong way to grasp the book. There are cultures that meet. Mu’allaqa, a suspended poem is one of them. It is an adaptation, in French and modern Arabic, of the mu’allaqa of Imru al-Qays, a flagship text of Arab heritage, known by heart by many Arab readers over the generations. And as Mathilde Chèvre is a lover of the Arabic language, she allows everyone to listen to free access to the albums she publishes on the internet.
The port has yellowed also offers workshops in schools based on oral writing and bilingual reading games, in libraries as well, spaces whose primary mission is indeed to offer sideways to the discovery of characters so different and yet so alike.