INTERVIEW OF AMINTA DUPUIS

How are you feeling in this moment?

It has been a long way from the writing discipline till this extraordinary achievement ! I am so grateful for the Iskanchi Book Prize and publication that Iskanchi offered me, to Kenechi Uzor and all of his attentive team, to Akeem Ibrahim for the beautiful book type setting. I am grateful for the translation of Marybeth Timmermann, for our collaboration; grateful for the sand painting cover that Cheikh Mbacke Sow made in my presence on the island of Gorée with natural sands of every Senegal's region. I am grateful for the graphic design of his son, Bathie Sow and for the photography of Babacar Mbodj. All these artistic steps where made all together. Here again, I want to express them all my deep thanks. And I feel a great joy to share The Child from Dindefello Falls with the anglophone readers who belong to such varieties of worlds and continents.

In addition to your work as a writer, you are also a professor of literature. What aspects of teaching and being in the classroom do you find most rewarding, and how does that experience feed into your creative life?

Pedagogy has to do with transmission of values, education. The beautiful thing is to lead a human being to its true self. We are gardeners, planting little seeds and waiting patiently for the plant to grow. The most rewarding is when the child flourishes, is stimulated in a free thinking to develop interest for the world. My book is positively oriented, then it is dedicated to young people(till 110 years, then youth is not only a matter of age, but a way to be). In its form, the composition in chapters helps to enjoy a clear overview of the whole. Some actual questioning subjects are also present in the novel. The humoristic chapter “A week in pajamas” is for example about the screen addiction. Shortly after, “The prize of life” is a moment full of gravity, where three friends discuss intensively about what happened, arising to more consciousness. Could it stimulate young readers to discuss further with their friends ?

As a classically trained soprano who studied in Europe, how do you seethe relationship between your musical training and your writing? Do they influence each other, or do you keep them as distinct creative worlds ?

For me, writing poetry is a very musical experience, because you haveto do with rhythm and the melody of vowels and consonants. The poet isa musician of the words and the musician is a poet through his finesensibility. These both artistic worlds flow in another. When I singmelodies, I sing poems that the composer has transformed in music.“L’Invitation au voyage” is for example a poem from Charles Baudelairethat Henri Duparc transformed in a melody. There, music and poetrynourish each other in a lively dialog.

What was the starting point for The Child of Dindefello Falls, was it acharacter, an image, or a question you wanted to interrogate?

The starting point was my revolt about our threatened freedom and thehope to rise awareness for the protection of life through the respect ofour environment, agriculture, education, health, cultural and spiritualfreedom on earth. I wanted also to testimony about the unique beauty of Africa, too oftencaricatured or reduced to its weaknesses. I hoped to emphasize its hugepotential, in particular of its wonderful youth and its spiritual richness. The baobab represents for me the flourishing renewal forces of the future.

The friendship between Sonlio and Sun-Hué is such a distinctive part ofyour novel. What drew you to weaving Senegalese and Chinese culturestogether?

Sun-Hué appeared suddenly, as I decided to go on adventure with acharacter that was far away from my culture. She came veryspontaneously, unforeseen and then, I just followed her steps. She has to do with an important idea of my book : that through theencounter of the cultures and their wisdom, new impulses can fecundateour earth. Then if the novel is first a homage to a culture, it highlightsalso the individual elan to create a future in the spirit of cosmopolitanism.

While writing across cultures and histories, what unexpected challengesor breakthroughs did you experience in shaping the narrative?

The challenge was the orchestration : to unite the development of eachrich character’s biography with the flow of the action. You have in minda whole dynamic organism and you must be in the present, the past andthe future, in every direction of the narration. Proposing new initiatives, created through the fantasy and imaginationof my characters, but also valid today in the reality, was liberating. I feltthe breakthrough of enthusiasm and joy, because they brought immensehope, not just for a continent, but for the rest of the world who shares thesame challenges.

Which character surprised you the most while you were writing,perhaps evolving in ways you didn’t plan?

In fact, in The Child from Dindefello Falls, every character is walkingin a movement of evolution and every moment brings something new.This surprising element makes precisely the interest of the whole story.Because many factors of change came in the writing process, I was oftenastonished. Can I unveil it ? Above all, something will happen with a hidden and mysteriouscharacter who carries an important secret. He evolved resolutely in adirection that I didn’t plan, but created in the moment ! Besides Sonlio,the principal personage, his clumsy friend Dimitri makes also a profoundmetamorphosis through several awakening steps. He surprised me withhis fine combination of humor and deepness, And of course, many parts of the book are leading the story in a totallyunexpected direction. I can't say any more then it is better to keep thesuspense intact !

What books are you reading now, and what books shaped yourchildhood, and why?

This year marks the 150th anniversary of Albert Schweitzer’s birth(Peace Nobel Prize). Around a literary and musical project, I read severalbooks about him : among them, his autobiography, some of his essentialworks, the memories of his niece, the first letters he shared during 10years with Hélène Bresslau, his future wife and a book from theGabonese Augustin Emane about the way Africans experienced him atLambaréné in Africa. I was impressed by the actuality of his forerunner voice, for exampleregarding his ethic of Reverence for life, his struggle for the peace andnuclear disarmament. But what touched me the most was his individual moral commitmentduring the colonization. For Albert Schweitzer and his wife, thecolonization had perpetrated such tremendous crimes, that he wanted towork for a reparation by giving his own life for the Africans, as anexpiation for this Evil. He decided to respond to this inhumanity throughhumanity, through the respect of human dignity and Love. For that, heleft everything, particularly a privileged situation as renowned musician,professor and writer. During 50 years, he devoted his entire life to healsick people in Gabon. All the testimonies of Africans about him showthat he lived truly and deeply according to this spirit of listening andcompassion. This announced really a new way of relations with the west, to heal adeep trauma. Several of my characters strive to live also with such moralconsciousness to transform a dualistic situation full of knots, evil andguilt, through a third reconciliation way, by their individual moralcommitment. Albert Schweitzer writes that one of the most important thing in life isto keep the spirit of youth, by maintaining constantly alive the ideals oflove, kindness, gentleness, truth and peace. Personally, he shared a very beautiful love with Hélène. Hear what hewrote to her : “For me, you will be always young... always. Don't worryabout ageing, about your grey hair... don't worry about anything. What I love in you, is the youth and the strength of the spirit, theyouth of your undying, eternal inner being which is reflected in yourface and gives it its freshness and beauty ". During my childhood, I was a passionate reader. It would be too longto make a list, but I can give non exhaustive references for each style ofbook. I loved the world literature : of course books about Africa (The Africanorigin of civilizations from Cheikh Anta Diop, The dark child fromCamara Laye, Amkoullel, the Fula Boy by Ahmadou Hampâté Bâ, Thelion from Joseph Kessel, Onitsha from Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio,Kesso, princesse peuhle from Kesso Barry, The Belly of the Atlantic fromFatou Diome), Carribean books (Sugar Cane Alley from Joseph Zobel),books about slavery (Roots from Alex Haley), South Africa (A dry whiteseason from André Brink), biographies of great men, written by theirspouses (My life with Martin Luther King from Coretta Scott King, Thelittle chronicle from Anna Magdalena Bach), the autobiographies ofGandhi and Malcom X. I read children's book (The little Prince byAntoine de Saint-Exupéry, The child and the river from Henri Bosco,Momo from Michael Ende) and love stories (Jane Eyre from CharlotteBrontë, The lilly of the valley from Balzac, Regards from the deadPrincess from Kenizé Mourad, The thorn birds from ColleenMcCullough), psychology oriented books (The Karamazov brothers fromFyodor Dostoevsky), coming-of-age novels (Jean-Christophe fromRomain Rolland, inspired by the life of Beethoven, Narcissus andGoldmund by Hermann Hesse), historic testimonies (For those I lovedfrom Martin Gray), books about the social reality (Les Misérables fromVictor Hugo, The Pest from Albert Camus), particularly of othercountries (The good earth from Pearl Buck, The rains came from LouisBromfield, City of joy from Dominique Lapierre), masterpieces aroundthe initiation theme (Parzival from Wolfram von Eschenbach, Peer Gyntfrom Henrik Ibsen, Faust from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe), booksabout the handicap (Helen Keller by Evelyn Clevé), books about nature,sometimes anticipation books (Brave new world from Aldous Huxley)and spiritual books (Siddharta by Hermann Hesse, And there was lightfrom Jacques Lusseyran, Return from tomorrow from George Ritchie). In poetry, I loved very much Léopold Sédar Senghor for his completework, David Diop for his poetry book Coups de pilon by Présence Africaine, Fatou Sow Ndiaye for Takam-Takam (Devine mon enfant,devine) in Nouvelles Éditions Africaines in Dakar and among many others Aimé Césaire for Return to the Native Land, Victor Hugo with Les Contemplations, Lamartine, Paul Claudel, Juan Ramón Jiménez, Letters to a young poet from Rainer Maria Rilke and I cherished the theater of Racine, Corneille, Molière, Shakespeare, Goethe, Schiller…

What role do you think African writers of your generation have in reshaping the canon, not only in terms of content, but also in how stories are published, circulated, and read globally?

I experienced how literature can widen our horizon to understand more deeply the human being and his complex facets. A book represents an exceptional openness to understand situations andbeings from the inside. Through the characters, we can live other lives,travel, think, reflect, even educate ourselves, share the joys and sorrowsof our brothers and sisters in humanity. If it fulfills its noble mission, the book is a big factor of awakening,comprehension of others on a planetary scale. The book guides us bydeveloping our consciousness and enriching our lives. Through its artistic quality, the book elevates, transforms the reality.This process is fascinating. Each writer works in his own way on thelanguage and gives it an individual color. He transforms elements of thereality in a new kaleidoscope, full of creativity and imagination to deliverus a singular message. That is why society needs also artists, poets and writers. Like VictorHugo, they are lighthouses that illuminate us to move forward. African writers are naturally in this universal stream, in a totally freeand individual expression. During a long time, their role was todenunciate the burden of oppression and to fight relentless for theirfreedom. Now, they can perhaps begin to show how the wisdom, loveand humanity flowing from the warm heart of Africa can enlighten theworld. Last year, the poet Racine Senghor conveyed me to the “Rencontres aubord du fleuve” in Foundiougne, before the senegalese writer SokhnaBenga invited me to participate to the “Rencontres sur le fleuve”, a weekof intense cultural dialog between writers, philosophers and other artists,on the Senegal river. We saw that the writers still fight against many“beasts” that imprison the individual inside the African society.Nevertheless, they wish heartily to develop the most noble and highestvalues of the Senegalese culture, like sutura (discretion) or kolere, so thatthey can irrigate the new literature and be transmitted to younggenerations. Earlier, the initiation had the great role to assure this transmission oftraditional values (the book Of Water and the Spirit by Malidoma PatriceSomé from Burkina Faso explains with great details an african initiation).Assuring the live together, peace and good understanding in the society,they are endangered to be forgotten or flouted. This tension between ancient wisdom and modern emancipation ofthe indivual led to passionate debates with many young Senegalesestudents on the riverside of Saint Louis and on the ship. In the new poetrybook Repaire de racines of the poet and filmmaker Abou Tall, you willfind a true mirror of the Senegalese spiritual foundations and roots with areflection on their possible loss. In his fairy tale book, Les Contes deNdayane, the writer Mamadou Samb lets also speak the wisdom of theSenegalese society through the transmission of an elderly man who speaksto children, eager to hear his wonderful stories. In Africa, hand in hand with the rich oral tradition (defended forexample by the storyteller Massamba Gueye, founder of the House of theorality near Dakar), I dream of libraries in every town and villages,initiatives to stimulate children to read, great support for many youngwriters, artistic residences, literature and storytelling festivals, theatersand poetry recitals. I wish very energetic help for the editors, allowingthe easy worldwide diffusion of their books.

Are there any upcoming projects or stories you’re excited to share?

Yes, the releasing of my poetry book : Les Souffles d'Euphorion byL'Harmattan, Paris. But...it is in french ! Would it be possible not just toread but to hear or recitate poetry in conviviality spaces of realencounter ? My wish is to find creative ways to share poetry as a livingword with the others.