From this Tuesday, October 10, the tenth edition of the international festival “The Breath of Harmattan” will be held in N’Djamena. For five days, in the premises of the Emi Koussi Private University, around a hundred writers, poets, slammers and book professionals will celebrate the book around round tables, signings and cultural events.
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“ The paths are stony and solitude fuels them. » This phrase from the famous poet Nimrod could very well apply to the Chadian literary world, as its isolation is so obvious. It is in an attempt to green up a desolate landscape a little that for ten editions, Sosthène Mbernodji has brought together writers, poets, slammers and thinkers every year for the FISH, the International Breath of the Harmattan Festival. This year around a hundred festival-goers are present on the banks of the Chari.
“ This year we will have as guest of honor Ndongo Mbaye, Senegalese academic, journalist and poet. There will also be our friends from Burkina Faso and Cameroon, an author from France and another from Canada. They are joining forces with Chadian writers and slammers to mark this edition with one stone. »
The book challenge
Round tables will also allow us to think about the best way to strengthen a sector that is still very fragile. “ We already have a bookstore which is dying, we do not have a distributor in Chad, the publishers operate in a scattered manner and do not have all the components of a publishing house. And so the challenge is to professionalize the sector, so that we have books of good quality. »
Book professionals are also waiting for the State’s promises made last year to materialize. An envelope of 400 million CFA francs must be released to strengthen the acquisitions of the National Library.