To mark the release of*Espoir*, her first autobiographical memoir published on March 20, Djaïli Amadou Amal has been invited by MansA to discuss the book. The event, moderated by Emmanuelle Collas, will explore the book’s origins, its central themes, and the author’s literary and personal journey.
Born in northern Cameroon, Amal was three years old when she realized her mother was a foreigner. Originally from Egypt, her mother had left her family to follow her husband to Cameroon. To ensure Amal didn’t forget her roots, she encouraged her to remember the family she had left behind. Amal then discovers that she is the hope of her people. From her youth to her first marriage proposal, Amal questions her origins: her dual culture—Arab and Fulani, Egyptian and Cameroonian; her parents’ love and their life choices; inter-family and inter-ethnic racism; the weight of conflicting traditions—until the trouble begins.
In her autobiographical memoir *Espoir*, published on March 20, Djaïli Amadou Amal recounts the joys and struggles of a child grappling with adult concerns, where cultures collide. She has a gift for storytelling, builds suspense, doesn’t shy away from humor, and draws us into her story—which sheds light on the journey of the woman, writer, and activist, a multiple award winner, that she is today.
Born in northern Cameroon, Djaïli Amadou Amal is Fulani and Muslim. Married at 17, she has experienced all the hardships that make life difficult for women in the Sahel. As a writer, she has established herself as a feminist activist at the helm of the association Femmes du Sahel. Winner of the Prix Goncourt des Lycéens, the Prix Choix Goncourt, and numerous international awards, translated into more than twenty-five languages, and serving as a UNICEF ambassador in Cameroon and for UN Women, she has been awarded an honorary doctorate from the Sorbonne Nouvelle. Following in the footsteps of *Les Impatientes*, *Espoir* is her fourth novel published in France.
The discussion will be moderated by Emmanuelle Collas,a historian of antiquity and publisher. At the intersection of literature and politics, she has built a catalog featuring prestigious names such as Patrick Chamoiseau and Édouard Glissant, while also giving prominence to new discoveries. This editorial approach, recognized with numerous awards (including the 2015 Prix Médicis Étranger, the 2020 Prix Goncourt des Lycéens, and the 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature), reached a decisive turning point in 2020 with the awarding of the Prix Goncourt des Lycéens to the novel *Les Impatientes* by Djaïli Amadou Amal, an author whom Emmanuelle Collas has supported since her debut.
