Les Maîtres du sol

The Centre culturel canadien invites you to an encounter with Canadian author Ryad Assani-Razaki on the occasion of the publication in France of the novel Les Maîtres du sol published by Éditions Liana Levi.

An ambitious and romantic epic, Les Maîtres du sol portrays a part of African history that is as fascinating as it is little known.

It is merely a small fishing village on the Gulf of Guinea, in the late fifteenth century. Yet the Portuguese chose it to reach sub-Saharan Africa and settle there. The villagers' astonishment is immense because the skin of these men, who came seeking gold, is translucent, and their language indecipherable. Gradually, under the pressure of the "white devils", ancient beliefs waver, customs fade. Everything changes, except the custom requiring getting rid of children born with malformations, like little Efua. Yet a mysterious man, newly arrived in the village, takes an interest in the young girl. Is he a slave, a prince, 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 ancient beliefs. Dazzled by the knowledge of the Arabs, they want to impose within the powerful Songhai Empire the religion of Allah from the East, risking the disruption of an ancestral balance…

Born in 1981 in Cotonou, Benin, Ryad Assani-Razaki lives in Toronto, Canada. In 2010 he won the Trillium Book Award for his short story collection Deux cercles. He is also the author of La Main d'Iman, winner in Canada of the Robert-Cliche Prize for a first novel in 2011.

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