About this Event
Join us at The Africa Center on Tuesday, November 18th for an engaging evening of conversation in partnership with the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie. Acclaimed Cameroonian novelist Hemley Boum will be joined by Haitian curator Max Jean-Louis for a thought-provoking dialogue about the role of storytelling in shaping identity and cultural memory while tracing and translating our intimate geographies.
About OIF:
The International Organisation of La Francophonie (OIF) brings together 93 states and governments around the world that shares the French language and the values it embodies. Through its cultural, educational, and diplomatic initiatives, the OIF promotes linguistic diversity, francophone cultures, and sustainable development, and women and youth rights. It supports artists, writers, and creators whose work contributes to the vitality of the French-speaking world and to the exchange of ideas across borders.
Speakers:
Hemley Boum is a Cameroonian novelist and poet whose work explores exile, migration, and the transmission of memory across cultures. Her writing explores the ways in which displacement reshapes communication, belonging, and identity, moving from village to city, from continent to continent, and from one cultural framework to another. Beyond her publications, she has led creative-writing workshops with young writers in Cameroon, migrant communities in France, and African feminists, reflecting her broader engagement with questions of identity and belonging.
After studies in anthropology and international business, and a career spanning France and Cameroon, she settled in Paris to devote herself fully to writing. In fall 2023, she was in residence at Villa Albertine in San Francisco, she led workshops in Oakland, Berkeley, and San Francisco, on migration writing with French-speaking communities. She is the author of five novels translated into six languages, and her work has earned major recognition, including the Prix Ahmadou-Kourouma (2020), the Grand Prize for Black African Literature (2016), and the Ivorian Prize for Francophone Literature (2013). Her latest novel, Le Rêve du pêcheur, won the 2025 Prix des 5 Continents of La Francophonie.
Max Jean-Louis, MBA is a Harlem-based Haitian cultural curator, journalist and community engagement expert. He serves as President of Atabey Storytelling and Cultural Institute, where he advances dialogue on cultural diversity, diasporic heritage and transatlantic history. As curator of the landmark exhibition "Haiti-Louisiana: Tides of Freedom," he presented at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, in New Orleans, and in Brooklyn, transforming complex historical narratives into spaces for cross-cultural understanding.
He previously served as Special Advisor to the Minister of Culture and Communication of the Republic of Haiti (2020-2021), Chairman of Radio Guacanagaric (2017-2020), and Board Member of the Centre de la Francophonie des Amériques (2010-2015), where he developed programs reaching millions across the Americas. In 2021, he was awarded a Cross Culture Programme Fellowship by the German International Cultural Relations ifa (Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen).
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
The Africa Center, 1280 5th Avenue, New York, United States
USD 0.00
