African literatures in Algeria - Barzakh and Apic editions

Two Algerian publishers are very active in bringing literatures from African authors to Algerian bookshops. Barzakh editions and Apic editions throughout their respective collections ‘Lands in Solidarity’ and ‘Resonances’ do this. What is it that they do exactly and why ? Here's part of the answer in this article :

Résonances was born in October 2007 during Algiers’ International book fair [SILA], on the occasion of which we published three titles La fête des masques [The Masks’ Party] by Sami Tchak, La géographie du danger [The Geography of Fear] by Hamid Skif and Ma planète me monte à la tête [My planet is going to my head] by Anouar Benmalek. This collection gathers texts by African authors published outside of the continent and to whom we wanted to give visibility in Algeria, to circumvent literary borders. That’s how texts by Rabah Belamri (Algeria), Habib Tengour (Algeria), Louis Philipe Dalembert (Haïti), Tierno Monénmebo (Guinea), Yambo Ouologuem (Mali), Tanella Boni (Ivory Coast), Patrice Nganang (Cameroon), Jean-Luc Rharimanana (Madagascar) and Gabriel Mwènè Okoundji (Republic of the Congo) found themselves in Résonances.

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Books on the 'Hirak' - fiction, poetry, and non-fiction

(photo credit: Yacine Bouaziz ) Every Friday, for the past 38 weeks*, men and women with their children have been peacefully demonstrating in Algeria, reclaiming public space and demanding a complete overhaul of the political landscape. In the country, these demonstrations are described as part of a larger whole: the " hirak " (less often harak ), 'the movement'. It was of course only a matter of time before the hirak became the main subject in books. So far, non-fiction leads with analyses and commentaries of this nationwide movement, written in Arabic and French, by single authors or collectives, published as early on as May 2019 (demonstrations began on 16 February 2019). The hirak has also crossed into poetry and fiction. Khaled Ben Salah's poetry collection " diary of an African man who wears a floral shirt and smokes L&M's in the time of the revolution " was published by El Mutawassit editions in October (see an excerpt...

Moufdi Zakaria - The Algerian Ilyad

I am over the moon to have found a PDF version of the original Algerian Ilyad by the great Algerian war poet Moufdi Zakaria. As it is the original version, it is in Arabic HERE (thanks to archive.org, a fantastic e-resource for old books, you should check it out). You can access the book in other formats too HERE . The Algerian Iliad - إلياذة الجزائـر - l' Iliade algé rienne is a 1,000 line poem retracing Algeria's history in great historical details. Throughout, Cheikh Zakaria recounts all the names that have shapped the Algeria's history. He goes through all the regions' history and their greatest most emblematic figures. This poem is so valuable and beautiful. It should be on the curriculum of any Arabic and history cursus in Algeria. Perhaps it is and/or you know this poem? Who is Cheikh Moufdi Zakaria? Well, on 5th of July, three days from now, Algeria will celebrate 50 years of independence. A tremendous poem wa...

"Kan darbe yaadatani, isa gara fuula dura itti yaaddu" (Oromo proverb)

"By remembering the past, the future is remembered". These notes are taken from Mengesha Rikitu's research on "Oromo Folk Tales for a new generation" by (see also his "Oromo Proverbs" and "Oromo Grammar"). Some proverbs are folk tales are worth the detour: 1) Oromo Proverb – Harreen yeroo alaaktu malee, yeroo dhuudhuuftu hin'beektu "The Donkey doesn't know that it is farting again and again when it is braying." (ie some people concentrating on their own verbosity are unaware of what is going on behind them) You can tell that dhuudhuuftu is the farting can't you, am betting on the sound that word makes. Oromifa is one of the five most widely spoken (Afroasiatic) languages in Africa. Its importance lies in the numbers of its speakers and in its geographical extent. The 'official' numbers point to 30 million Oromo speakers (but there has not been to this day a complete or reliable census). The majority...

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