AFRICAN LITERATURE TODAY AND TOMORROW: A LOOK INTO THE AFRICAN FESTIVAL OF EMERGING WRITERS, FESTAE.

To join recent debates on what African literature is or should be, Cercle Littéraire des Jeunes du Cameroun (CLIJEC) organised from February 6-8, 2020 the 5th edition of its annual festival, African Festival of Emerging Writers, in Dschang and Bangoulap. Through the captivating theme of the festival, History, Memories and Faces of Africa, and its uniqueness, tributes given to two literary icons in Cameroon literature (Marcel Kemadjou Njanke and Claude Njike Bergeret),

the festival does not only seek to add to recent debates on what African literature is or should be, but gives value to African literature and Cameroon literature, in particular.

The first day, 6th February 2020, at the museum of civilization in Dschang the opening panel discussion on the theme History, Memories and Faces of Africa moderated by Mr Joseph Fumtim, gave the notion of plurality in African literature from diverse views expressed by panellists on the memories they have of Africa. Through this forum, the poet and novelist, Eric Ngalle Charles, did not fail to highlight that it does not suffice to have memories of Africa but, to give a paradigm shift to those memories that may be somehow distorted by creating new memories in redefining what we want others to think of Africa.

Like the good storyteller he is, he recites

a poem whose verse “The smiles of the sleeping child” captures the memories he has of his childhood which are shaping his literature as a diaspora, a Cameroonian living in Wales. Thus, to him, African writers should use the good memories they have of Africa to move on than wasting time trying to understand what others think of Africa, its history etc., and I may add, its literature. This is because African literature today has evolved. Thus, African writers, researchers and thinkers should move on. In a continent that welcomes people from other continents and whose population is dependent on western education, African literature today is at the crossroad of western civilisation and African cultures. Hence, during the festival, there were poetic recitations in Welsh, Spanish, English and French by writers from Wales, Argentina and Cameroon, all countries with a history of colonisation. Hence, the plurality of both the festival, African literature and Cameroon literature today.

In this plurality, an emphasis on African literature or Cameroon literature isn’t a bad idea, especially with the oral performance in the evening of February 6, 2020, beside the beautiful municipal lake whose calmness brought the small group of writers back to the past, oral literature. Nuit de la parole africaine : soir au village is a beautiful recollection of History, Memories and Faces of Africa from the décor ( a fireside in the middle and writers sitting in a circle round it) to the insightful poems, songs, stories and proverbs (oral performance) that did not fail to give deep admirations and praises of African landscape, culture, heroes, fables etc., while sharing Cameroonian local snacks and fruit like puff puff, soya and banana. A typical African traditional setting.

Thus, reinforcing the social value of African literature and Cameroonian literature, in particular.

Robert Brain opines that “Art in Africa has always been very much a part of the people’s life, manifest in every aspect of their working, playing and believing worlds.” Simon Cadin Neyeng, a visual artist, is an embodiment of talent that proves the validity of Brain’s statement. His visual arts exhibition on the theme, “Faces, Silences and Expressions”, gives a reflection of the images and faces of contemporary Africa thereby valorising Cameroonian lifestyle and history via artistic skills. The African Festival of Emerging Writers made discovered myriad of such skills in the oral poetry performances of Grimo, Eric Ngalle Charles, Horacio Gutierrez, Lestyn Tyne and Nnane Ntube.

It is therefore no doubt that African literature is progressing towards exploring old forms (African oral tradition) in reconciliation with new forms and new thematic concerns through storytelling and other oral performances, and that, African literature tomorrow will be more confident in its definition if its different forms are taken into consideration likewise the language used etc. But from the lens of the African Festival of Emerging Writers, the future of African literature in general and Cameroon, in particular, is bright. Orature is gradually, but surely, taking its rightful place in literary milieus.

Article by

Nnane Anna Ntube.