The event dedicated to the world of books and reading in Mali, La Rentrée littéraire du Mali or the Literary Reentry of Mali rolled off on Saturday, February 17.
'The Literary Reentry of Mali' inspires Malians to read 10 years on
To celebrate the tenth anniversary, previously organized only in Bamako, the event was now extended to the very symbolic cities of Timbuktu and Djenne.
“They have made a theme that is important to our current the situation. Humanity is a link; that means that people need to think that without humanity, if we are not connected if we are not together, if we do not create a link between the geographical links and social ties because the world depends on it,” said Chabe Touré the organizer.
The main target of this year’s edition was young people; evidenced by the various activities planned in 25 high schools, 5 universities and 8 cultural centres – including the French Institute of Mali.
“The reading culture in Mali is so bad because we are in a country of spoken expression. On one hand, there isn’t a lot of space for reading, and on the other hand, more and more young people are not interested in reading. Reading is really not doing well, but I think that events like this one are very important,” said Amadou Bah a bookseller.
Professionals were not left out. with workshops dedicated to improving the publishing industry in Africa in general, and in Mali in particular. More than 150 writers from 5 continents will be able to exchange views on the issue of publishing in Africa.
“The Literary Reentry of Mali prepares what I call the spiritual meal that allows us to create and publish better books; so that young people can find books that will give them a very good training. In turn Africans, Malians understand what others write about,” said Gaoussou Diawara, a writer.
The event ends on February 24. Since its inception, the Literary Reentry of Mali has attracted between 40,000 and 50,000 readers in Mali.