Ibrahima Aya, Keynote Speaker
Title: Decolonisation and Decoloniality: African Literary Return to the Source
A native of the Timbuktu region in Mali, Ibrahima Aya is an agricultural engineer, writer and editor. Co-founder of Editions Tombouctou, he lives in Bamako where, alongside his literary and editorial activities, he exercises his profession as an agronomist.
He has notably published: Le vieux pagne, Les larmes de Djoliba, Les âniers de la Casbah, Querelle autour d’un âge, Kori, Rires et pleurs des orphelins. He has also participated in or co-directed several collective works including: Voix hautes pour Tombouctou, Le Mali entre doutes et espoirs, L’Afrique des laïcités, Le Mali contemporain.
Le pays des éclipses, published in 2021, is his latest book.
In 2011, he created the “Bibliothèque des dédicaces” in Timbuktu to bring together books donated and autographed by their authors with the aim of combating intolerance by sharing knowledge and imagination.
Ibrahima Aya is the co-founder and director of the “Rentrée littéraire du Mali”, the literary event of reference in Mali, created in 2008, which has now made Mali one of the major events for the celebration of literary and intellectual creation in Africa. The “Rentrée littéraire du Mali” is held every year in February. The 16th edition will take place from February 20 to 24, 2024 on the theme: Africa of living together.
