It all started with a great idea: launch the Voix d'Afriques prize (note the plural, it is important).
JC Lattès editions, associated with RFI, have set up a new literary award whose objective is the discovery of new French-language pens throughout the African continent - hence the plural.
This is an award based on manuscripts written by authors under the age of 30, who have yet to publish anything.
The reward is rare: the winning manuscript will become - after work with the publishing house - a novel published by JC Lattès editions, with a co-publication in the native country of the winner.
The chosen one will also benefit from a residency at the Cité internationale des arts in Paris, partner of the prize.
The jury is sponsored this year by the Djiboutian writer Abdourahman Waberi.
And the winner of this 2020 edition is… Yaya Diomandé, for
Abobo Marley
, a title inspired by the name of a small town near Abidjan and the small neighborhood called Marley.
The lucky winner was born in 1990, and lives in Abidjan.
After two higher technician certificates in Logistics Transport and Finance-Accounting and a Masters in Private Law, he worked as a translator-interpreter before creating an online journal
Investissements
+
.
A world told with candor
Abobo Marley
is therefore his first novel.
It features Koné Moussa alias Mozess, an Ivorian who works from 4 am as a "
balancer
" aboard a "
gbaka
" a van that links the town of Abobo and the Adjamé shopping center.
Like many, His dream is to go to Europe.
This is El Dorado, he thinks.
To achieve this, he has a series of trades: shoe shine, apprentice mechanic, taxi driver, and the most astonishing such as rebellion soldier or gang leader!
According to the jury, there were many good manuscripts.
Yaya Diomandé had to deal with strong competition, but it was his "
voice
" which seduced because Moussa "
tells us about his world with the candor of the child, the revolt of the young man, the confidence and the blindness of the man who never gives up.
Contagious vital energy, a stunning modern odyssey, the discovery of a magnificent voice that carries that of today's African youth.
"
Moreover, even orally, Yaya Diomandé is excellent.
Just see it and listen to it on the video posted by JC Lattès on Youtube.
We would have voted for him.
The Maison de la Poésie is organizing a meeting with him on Friday October 2 at 8 p.m., with a reading by Birane Ba, resident of the Comédie-Française accompanied by the musician Benoist Bouvot Este.
A good reason to find out.
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