Literature

A co-publication of the Alliance’s English-langage network. Two co-publishers : Spinifex (Australia), Women Unlimited (India).

Abstract:

“Palestine-in-exile,” says Rana Barakat, “is an idea, a love, a goal, a movement, a massacre, a march, a parade, a poem, a thesis, a novel and, yes, a commodity, as well as a people scattered, displaced, dispossessed and determined.”
How do Palestinians live, imagine and reflect on home and exile in this period of a stateless and transitory Palestine, a deeply contested and crisis-ridden national project, and a sharp escalation in Israeli state violence and accompanying Palestinian oppression? How can exile and home be written?
In this volume of new writing fifteen innovative and outstanding Palestinian writers—essayists, poets, novelists, critics, artists and memoirists—respond with their reflections, experiences, memories and polemics. What is it like, in the words of Lila Abu-Lughod, to be “drafted into being Palestinian?” What happens when you take your American children, as Sharif Elmusa does, to the refugee camp where you were raised? And how can you convince, as Suad Amiry attempts to do, a weary airport official to continue searching for a code for a country that isn’t recognised?
Contributors probe the past through unconventional memories, reflecting on 1948 when it all began. But they are also deeply interested in beginnings, imagining, in the words of Mischa Hiller, “a Palestine that reflects who we are now and who we hope to become”. Their contributions—poignant, humorous, intimate, reflective, intensely political—make for an offering that is remarkable for the candour and grace with which it explores the many individual and collective experiences of waiting, living for, and seeking Palestine.

Editors:
Penny Johnson is an independent researcher who works closely with the Institute of Women’s Studies at Birzeit University, where she edits the Review of Women’s Studies. Recent writing and research on Palestine has focused on weddings and wars, wives of political prisoners, and young Palestinians’ talk about proper and improper marriages. She is an Associate Editor of the Jerusalem Quarterly.
Raja Shehadeh is a Palestinian lawyer and writer who lives in Ramallah. He is the founder of the pioneering non-partisan human rights organisation, Al Haq, an affiliate of the International Commission of Jurists, and the author of several books about international law, human rights and the Middle East. He is also the author of the award-winning Palestinian Walks and A Rift in Time: Travels with My Ottoman Uncle. His new book, Occupation Diaries, is published in August 2012.

Endorsements:
“How can an essentially sad story give such pleasure? The answer is in these narratives: these stories, memoirs, poems are a pleasure and an education; personal, vivid, original, sometimes witty, always accomplished and always honest. They are a testimonial to the human spirit, and to the growing contribution of Palestine to literature.” —Ahdaf Soueif

ISBN: 81-88965-73-1 (Women Unlimited, India), 978-1-74219-823-1 (Spinifex, Australia).

The young Zulu Dumisani Gumede grows up in the pastoral setting of the mountains of South Africa. This irresistible seducer has two obsessions: sex and an utter adoration of Nelson Mandela, the mythical ANC leader then the talk of the country and to this young man the essence of courage and virility. Originally published in 2006, “Mandela’s ego” looks back at South Africa under the apartheid regime. A brave and unusual coming-of-age novel, combining delightful anecdotes about the everyday life of the Zulu community with scenes of violence, family, social and political, in a country in torment. Wisdom and humour rub shoulders in this fable, a homage to the great Mandela.

Lewis NKOSI was born in Durban (South Africa) in 1926. A journalist, he taught literature at various universities. The author of many essays on culture and South African literature, plays and novels, he was awarded numerous literary prizes. He died in Johannesburg in September 2010.

Year of publication of the Pan-African version: 2011, 360 pages, 11,5 X 19 cm

A Fair Trade Book co-publishing.

Zam, a committed political journalist, has been the victim of a theft: his entire valuable collection of jazz records has been stolen. The following day he discovers a dead body in his cupboard. There follows a succession of events during which Zam – more in tune with the simple pleasures of life – slowly realises that a plot is being hatched against him. So he decides to conduct an investigation which rapidly turns into a nightmare, where shady policemen get mixed up with corrupt politicians, where foreign diplomats lurk while the secret services let loose. “Trop de soleil tue l’amour” – the first volume of an incomplete trilogy – belongs to the tradition of literary farce that, through humour, denounces the tragedy of an Africa caught in the snares of its many contradictions and endless meddling.

Writer, essayist, bookseller, editor, militant citizen, Mongo BETI – born in 1932 in Cameroon – has for half a century been at the heart of the struggle for an Africa free from the tragedies of colonisation and independence confiscated. Author of an important body of work and considered one of Africa’s major writers, Mongo BETI died in October 2001.

Year of publication of the Pan-African version: 2011, 372 pages, 11,5 X 19 cm

A Fair Trade Book co-publishing.

A man – despite being a staunch opponent of animism – confides to a former party comrade: “I was bewitched by my paternal uncle”. Another, Likibi, is tried for having prevented the rain from falling on his village: accused of being a fetishist, he is executed. A factory watchman praises the communist Revolution without understanding a single word; his zeal will have fatal consequences for him. With bitter irony and a tone of detachment, this collection of eight short stories describes the collapse of new African states and the disillusionment that followed independence. So many portraits of men and women that Emmanuel Dongala succeeds in depicting convincingly and with humanity. The style is faux naïf, the situations sometimes bizarre... and even if the author indulges in flights of fancy – related to his passion for jazz – the overall impression remains pessimistic behind the bittersweet humour of the writing.

Born in 1941, Emmanuel Dongala grew up in Congo-Brazzaville and now lives in the United States. He is the author of many novels, including “Les petits garçons naissent aussi des étoiles” (“Boys Also Come From Stars”) and “Johnny Chien Méchant” (“Mean Dog Johnny”), publishing by Serpent à plumes.

Year of publication of the pan-African version: 2009, 204 pages, 11,5 X 19 cm

A corpse in a bunker: that of the Head of state, N’Zo Nikiema. A mystery: the murder of little Kaveena, only daughter of the late president’s mistress. Colonel Asante Kroma, chief of police, will have to disentangle the dark mysteries of a system he was part of. “Kaveena”, a long monologue, clear-sighted and desperate, speaks relentlessly of Africa bruised at the hands of local and foreign politicians, brutal, greedy, merciless. A brave novel that pulls no punches.

Born in 1946, the Senegalese author Boubacar Boris Diop has achieved renown as a major contemporary African writer. He has written several novels, including “Murambi, Le livre des ossements” published by Stock in 1997 and “Doomi Golo”, written in Wolof (Papyrus, 2003) and published in France by Philippe Rey publishing en 2009.

Year of publication of the pan-African version: 2009, 382 pages, 11,5 X 19 cm

In the eyes of an African teenager who joins the army without really knowing why, Ken Saro-Wiwa takes us into the chaos of a meaningless chaos, that of Nigerian civil war (1967-1970). Written in an extraordinary language – “rotten English” –, Sozaboy is a masterpiece of African literature; its astonishing violence and audacity have been celebrated throughout the world as a fierce plea against the madness of war.

Ken Saro-Wiwa was born in Nigeria in 1941. After studying English, he worked as a teacher in Laos. Besides writing novels and popular soap operas for television, he later created his own publishing house and was the President of the Association of Nigerian Authors for three years. As a journalist, he has been praised for his caustic pen and courageous positions. In 1995, he was sentenced to death and executed by hanging because of his militancy in favor of the Ogoni community to which he belonged.

Year of publication of the pan-African version: 2008,
294 pages,
11,5 X 19 cm

Ken Bugul’s novel is a dialogue between a daughter and her dead mother, whom she accuses of not having loved her and having preferred her sister ; it describes a relationship and a world from which love and truth seem absent. In a poetic fashion, alternating short sentences with poetry – as though pulsed by the murmur of despair – in a litany of remembrances, the author attempts to tell the ineffable pain of lost things.

Ken Bugul – whose name in Wolof means “one who is unwanted” – was born in Senegal in 1947, to a father who was a marabout (type of African shaman) and a mother who had to leave her when she was only 5 years old. She has worked as an international civil servant and now she lives in Benin. Her work, in which she combines her sense of humour with an innate talent for story-telling, is flooded with themes such as the status of women, Islam or North-South relationships. With her lucid, free and uncompromising look, she is one of the major voices in contemporary African literature.
Among her books are: La folie et la mort [Madness and Death], (Présence africaine, 2000), Rue Félix-Faure (Serpent à Plumes, 2004).

Year of publication of the pan-African version: 2008, 282 pages,
11,5 X 19 cm

In A Naked Needle, with a finesse that is not lacking in nerve – the explicit reference is to none other than James Joyce’s Ulysses– Nuruddin Farah adds to the love story a stroll through the city, as well as a detailed analysis of the psychology of his characters, each of whom sees the relationships from a different viewpoint. This increases the readers’ feelings of empathy, and they will inevitably be surprised as they identifies with one or other member of this community.
This is where one of the keys to the great success of Farah’s novels lies: the power of the novelist to take us gently and firmly by the hand and make us identify with individuals who remain timeless. “Outside of time, because they are them although they could be us” – writes Abdourahman A.Waberi in the prologue.

Born in Baidoa, in what was then Italian Somalia, Nuruddin Farah grew up in Ogaden, a Somali province in eastern Ethiopia, before going off to study in India in the mid 1970s. Back in his home country, he made a name for himself in 1968 in Mogadishu as a teacher, but above all as the first novelist to use both English and Somali. A double success – unusual, certainly – which was to precipitate his exile, sealed by the military junta of Mohamed Siad Barre, who came to power in 1969.

In an excellent translation into French by Catherine Pierre-Bon and a remarkable cover design, A Naked Needle signals the editorial orientation of the “Terres d’écritures” collection, which is being published jointly by seven French-language publishers. A demanding collection of books that are destined to last, and which strongly reassert the universality of literature.

Year of publication : 2007,
260 pages,
14,5 X 22 cm

Algiers, Tlemcen, Angers, Saint-Etienne, Firminy, Yaounde, Bamako, Philippe Dauchez, in all these cities, played of his art, theatre, as an actor, director or professor.

Once working with Albert Camus as an assistant, he was always impassioned for the integration of theatre in the City in all its forms, classical, popular, traditional... From large French scenes to Malians villages, he has always worked with the same simplicity and the same commitment. This book recalls his history, his passion for life, theatre and people, in a text which makes cross the intimacy and the universal, history and everyday life, erudite theatre and popular art. Pierre Chambert draws up us a poetic portrait of a man who put his very whole life at the service of a useful theatre.

Pierre Chambert, a poet and a writer, is an inspector-advisor for theatre and performing arts at the French Ministry of Culture and Communication. He is currently posted in Guyana, near Amazonia, its legends and its storytellers.

Year of publication: 2006, 256 pages