The second year of the Asmara Addis Literary Festival in Exile was held from February 27 to February 28, 2020, in Matgone, Belgium. Founded by Eritrean-Ethiopian novelist Sulaiman Addonia, the Festival, according to a description on its website, “aims to be an international home for ideas that migrate freely and boldly in borderless literary landscapes, and one that reflects and celebrates our societies not as censored but as they exist in reality, with all their diversity, trouble, and beauty.”
This year’s festival featured readings, panels, book launches, music performances, an exhibition, and artwork. Talents with backgrounds in thirty different countries (eighteen of them in Africa) were represented at the festival. Among the guests were Mariam, Molara Wood, Kalaf Epalanga, Magdalene Abraha, Maaza Mengiste, Vittorio Longhi, Kagisi Lesego Molope, Hannah Azieb Pool, Sumia Jama, Amina Jama, Alycia Pirmohamed, Esther Le Roy, Aime Mpane, Jean Pierre Muller, Abigael H, Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah, Veronique Clette-Gakuba, Lou Cocody-Valentino, Homam Daoud, Mohannad Bennana, Nhu Quynh de Prelle, Fatma Alomrani, Noemie Arazi, Aicha Boulbayem, Obiageli Okigbo, Julia Galaski, Ivo, Yves Kendall, Mauricio Ruiz, Astrid Haerens, Sofie Verraest, Alhadi Adam Agabeldour, Desta Haile, and Zelly Lisanework.
Here are some photos from the Festival, courtesy of Sulaiman Addonia.
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