Les Maîtres du sol

Les Maîtres du sol - Meet Ryad Assani-Razaki.

The Centre culturel canadien invites you to meet Canadian author Ryad Assani-Razaki on the occasion of the French publication of the novel Les Maîtres du sol, published by Éditions Liana Levi.

An ambitious, sweeping epic, Les Maîtres du sol brings to life a facet of African history as fascinating as it is little known. It tells of a small fishing village on the Gulf of Guinea at the end of the fifteenth century.

Yet the Portuguese chose it as their point of access to sub-Saharan Africa, where they intended to settle. The villagers are astonished: the skin of these men, who had come in search of gold, is translucent, and their language is unintelligible.

Little by little, under the pressure of the 'white devils', ancient beliefs waver and customs fade. Everything changes, but not the custom that requires the disposal of children born with malformations, such as little Efua.

Yet a mysterious man, recently arrived in the village, takes an interest in the young girl. Is he a slave, a prince or a warrior? And what is the reason for his interest in Efua? The answers to these questions lie at the end of a long journey to Timbuktu.

There too, some question the old beliefs. Dazzled by the learning of the Arabs, they wish to impose on the powerful Songhai Empire the religion of Allah, which arrived from the East, at the risk of upsetting an ancestral balance...

Born in 1981 in Cotonou, Benin, Ryad Assani-Razaki lives in Toronto, Canada. He received the Prix Trillium in 2010 for his short story collection Deux cercles. He is also the author of La Main d’Iman, winner in Canada of the Prix Robert-Cliche du premier roman in 2011.

The meeting will be hosted by Lize Veyrard, editorial manager for contemporary literature at the Folio collection, and will be followed by a book sale and signing session.