Five questions to Mahi Binebine, President of the Marrakech African Book Festival (FLAM)

by times news cr

2024-04-22 13:53:38

1. What is special about the second edition of FLAM?

For our first edition, it was complicated to convince major authors to come to Marrakech. I was lucky enough to have the French-speaking writer, Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio, who had promised me to come one day to visit the Stars of Jemaa El-Fna, the Stars of Sidi Moumen and the Ali Foundation Zaoua.

He came to Marrakech where he gave an exceptional inaugural lesson for our first edition which brought together around forty authors.

The first edition focused on “angry subjects”: we talked about everything that separates us, including the history of slavery, racism…..

For this 2nd edition, we focused on literature. Indeed, we have the privilege of having an inaugural lesson with Souleymane Bachir Diagne. It is a miracle that this renowned philosopher, who teaches at Columbia, is among us! We are also lucky to have Edgar Morin for the Grand Entretien, as well as other authors, such as Raphaël Confiant, Abdellatif Laâbi, Alain Mabanckou, as well as other African writers that we appreciate.

2) In your opinion, what is the specificity of African and Afro-descendant literature?

We have a common imagination. If I had to define myself as a writer, I would say that I am the fruit of a marriage between my grandmother, my African nanny and the storyteller of the great square.

I am a big fan of African literature. Obviously, we have a common imagination because we have a common past and what we want to do today is tell the past, talk about today and above all think about the future. Who better than artists and writers to think and reflect on this common future of the Continent?

Furthermore, we want to build this common future: we have all the means to get there (intelligence, raw materials, cultural wealth, etc.)

3) By what means does this festival participate in the promotion and enhancement of African and Afro-descendant literature?

The festival already aspires to raise awareness of African and Afro-descendant literature in order to encourage Moroccans to read more, because it deeply surprised me to know that the annual reading average for Moroccans was 2 to 3 minutes.

Driven by this desire to encourage people to read, we invite authors to this festival, in order to give them a taste for reading. Moreover, this year we launched a rich Hors des Murs program. Thus, a group of authors went to 25 establishments to meet the students who had read their works during the previous months.

Furthermore, when I enter Moroccan houses or schools, I see very few libraries, if any. This situation will have to be remedied. These kinds of festivals aim to make things happen and bring about the change we dream of.

4) Will there be a place in future editions for African oral and popular literature?

Written Moroccan literature comes from orality. Every time I write a novel, I find all the stories that I have been told before. Orality is omnipresent in the imagination of the Moroccan or African writer and is integrated into written literature.

5) How does this festival help build bridges and forge links between writers of different expressions?

This year we have “sacred monsters” from African literature. The fact that they are among us and that I can read their works is already a success!

In my opinion, it is thanks to this exchange that we can together build this common future that we all want. Moreover, I am very happy to have met Italians who told me they wanted to form a partnership with us.

In short, we are very happy to export our literature first to Africans and elsewhere.

2024-04-22 13:53:38

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