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The Cultural Frontline: Faïza Guène and Omar El Akkad

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Faïza Guène and Omar El Akkad

02/10/2021 GMT

BBC World Service - The Cultural Frontline, Faïza Guène and Omar El Akkad

Author Faïza Guène on her ground-breaking novels about multicultural France

French author Faïza Guène on writing about the pull between two identities and Chilean theatre director Ramona Suarez on telling the stories of Haitian migrants.

This week on The Cultural Frontline, Anu Anand looks at how migration and the journeys we take have inspired writers and theatre makers. 

French author Faïza Guène made a global impact with her first novel Kiffe Kiffe Demain, which was translated into English as Just Like Tomorrow. It shook up the literary scene in France with its humorous portrayal of the lives of immigrants in the deprived suburbs of Paris.  Faïza Guène talks about her novel Men Don’t Cry and how the French establishment reacted to her ground-breaking debut.  

Writer Nina Mingya Powles grew up in New Zealand, in a Malaysian-Chinese family, and she now lives in London. Her essay collection, Small Bodies of Water, takes the reader on a personal journey to the places across the globe which have given Nina a sense of belonging and home.  In a piece written especially for The Cultural Frontline, Nina reflects on migration and the impact of the journeys we take.

After the 2010 earthquake that devastated large parts of Haiti, many Haitians migrated to Chile to build a new life.  But Haitians in Chile have faced racism and discrimination, and many have struggled to find work.  LETTM, a theatre project in Cartagena, is working with Chilean locals and Haitian migrants.  Assistant Director Ramona Suarez explains how they are finding common ground between the communities.

Award winning author and journalist Omar El Akkad’s new novel tells a harrowing tale of enforced migration. What Strange Paradise focuses on the journey a nine year old Syrian refugee.   Omar El Akkad tells The Cultural Frontline how the classic children’s story, Peter Pan by JM Barrie, influenced and inspired his writing.

Photo: Faïza Guène. Credit: Faïza Guène)

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