‘French history is woven with black threads’, writer Mabanckou
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Play - 09:54
Congolese writer and poet Alain Mabanckou is giving a series of lectures on African history and literature at Paris's prestigious Collège de France.He's the first writer to have been awarded the annual chair for artistic creation at this unique institution, founded in the 16th century, with the aim of sharing knowledge to as wide a public as possible. He's doing just that.
“We felt we hadn’t done enough for African Studies,” Collège de France professor Antoine Compagnon told RFI, adding Mabanckou’s nomination had received a large consensus.
The Collège has made a judicious choice. Mabanckou’s lively lectures are attracting huge and very diverse audiences. His style, epitomized by the dapper look of the Congolese “sapeur”, shows he’s breaking the mould in more ways than one.
Mabanckou talks to RFI about how he sees his role as a poet of hope and why he won't remove his African “stains” in order to fit into France's highest cultural institution.
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