Rentrée Littéraire du Mali 2023 starts February 21

Rentrée Littéraire du Mali 2023 runs in venues around Bamako, Mali from February 21 – 25, 2023. The festival theme is “Decompartmentalising Africa.”

Rentrée Littéraire du Mali (Literary Return of Mali) is a festival of books, words, and ideas hosted in Bamako, Mali. It invites writers, academics, researchers and artists from five continents and the public to question our imaginations and their territories for peaceful living together and a sustainable world. The annual festival was first hosted in 2008.

The 2023 edition starts tomorrow in Mali’s capital city with over 100 free literary and artistic events in the form of: dedications, literary cafés, readings, debates, round tables, workshops, tributes, shows; 100 Malian writers, academics and artists; 50 guests from abroad; 6 universities, 30 high schools, 10 cultural centres and 45,000 young people, and the first forum of literary events in Africa. Its theme is “Décloisonner l’Afrique” (Decompartmentalising Africa) with the program stating; “To this day, Africa remains compartmentalized and torn apart. States, even grouped into entities and regions, often struggle to achieve even territorial or geographical unity. Borders seem stronger and resist attempts to open up and integrate. Story roads continue to replicate triangular paths bequeathed to Africans to talk to each other, write to each other, tell each other.”

Some of the writers, poets, publishers, and others expected are Amadou Tidiani Traoré, Idza Luhumyo, Philomé Robert, Dieudonné Niangouna, Armand Gauz,  Bakary Koné, Beata Umubyeyi Mairesse, Claire Paul Coulibaly, Djéné Ibrahim, Ernis, Founeké Sissoko, Harouna Barry, Ibrahima Lanseni Coulibaly, Issiaka Sidibé, Jean Marc Turine, Mamadou Konaté, Michèle Rakotoson, Moriba Diawara, Nassuf Djailani, Nfana Diakité, Oumou Ahmar Traoré, Sami Tchak, Ubah Cristina Ali Farah, Umah T., Sophie Heidi Kam, David Kpelly, Safiatou Ba, Siley Kourouma, Moussa Mara, Fabrice Nouzianyovo, Mohamed Abdallah, Vounsoumna Baizouma, Ousmane Diarra, Kouevi Dédé, Paul-Marie Traoré, Ibrahim Abdoulaye Maiga, Aguibou S. Diarrah. Laure Bledou, Elisabeth Daldoul, Karim Chikh, Sulaiman Adebowale, Sébastien Vondoly, Diarafa Macalou, Aicha Diarra, Hamidou Magassa, Fatoumata Keita, N’fana Diakité, Sékou Fofana, Ismaila Samba Traoré, Aliou Sow. Paul-Marie Traoré, Ousmane Soumaré, and many more.

The festival will also host a unique session with festival curators from across Africa including Abdoulaye Fodé Ndione, Festival international de la littérature de Dakar (Sénégal); Aliou Sow, Salon International du livre de jeunesse de Conakry (Guinée); Ameziane Ferhani, Salon International du Livre d’Alger, SILA (Algérie); Anges-Félix N’Dakpri, Salon International du Livre d’Abidjan, SILA (Côte d’Ivoire); Elisabeth Johnson, Pa Gya Literary Festival in Accra (Ghana); Joseph Ndwaniye, Rencontres Internationales du Livre Francophone du Rwanda, RILF (Rwanda); Lola Shoneyin, Aké Festival (Nigeria); Michèle Rakotoson, Salon du livre en monde rural (Madagascar); Morakabe Raks Seakhoa, International African Writers Day (Afrique du Sud); Nadia Essalmi, Littératures itinérantes (Maroc); Safiatou Faure, Biennale des littéraires francophones d’Afrique noire de Bobo Dioulasso (Burkina Faso); Ibrahima Aya, Rentrée littéraire du Mali Armando Artur João (Mozambique); and  Sékou Fofana (Afrilivres).

On February 25, the winners of Prix Ahmed Baba, Prix Massa Makan Diabaté, Prix Moussa Sow, and Prix Union européenne premier roman will be announced.

For more information on this festival please click here.