The “Voix d’Afriques” literary prize initiated by RFI, Lattès editions in partnership with the Cité Internationale des Arts returns for a second edition. After a call for writing from young writers on the African continent and the receipt of three hundred and fifty manuscripts, the 2021 winner is the young 29-year-old author Fann Attiki, rewarded for his first novel entitled “Cellar 72“, a fiction that takes place in Congo-Brazzaville, the native country of the winner. (Replay)
“Three young friends, Verdass, Ferdinand and Didi, meet every day at Cave 72, a bar, the ideal refuge where they forget their daily lives where everything seems to be ruled by the absurd: administrative hassles, political decisions, laws, the reasons for wars, love and divorce, the apparent passivity of men in the face of dictatorship… They discuss, drink, recite poems and return home without having harmed anyone. It is for this reason that a man, secretary to the National Security Council, will make them the designated culprits of a plot against the State and the President, providential guide of the nation. They become heroes in spite of themselves, obliged to defend themselves, to oppose the injustice of their condemnation, the heroes of their own lives emerging from routine and boredom, the heroes of a people who have become accustomed to tolerating oppression and who suddenly rises up, braves the army, demanding the release of the three s young people and the reopening of Cave 72, which has become the symbol of resistance.” (Presentation of editions JC Lattes)
You should also listen to three other excerpts from the interview with Fann Attiki which evokes
* Congolese youth
FANN ATTIKI and Congolese youth
* The Civil War of 1997
FANN ATTIKI and the 1997 Civil War
* The French language
FANN ATTIKI and the French language