Threads of Ifriqiya

Migration is often discussed through numbers, policies, and borders. But what happens when we follow the journey of a single person? In this episode of Threads of Ifriqiya, we explore  Little Brother , a remarkable collaboration between Ibrahima Balde, a Guinean refugee, and Amets Arzallus Antia, a Basque writer and bard who helped transform his testimony into literature. What begins as the story...

Some books become famous across the world. Others remain quietly cherished within the places that raised them. We are back with season 2 of Threads of Ifriqiya, and in this episode, we explore  Les Frasques d’Ebinto  by Ivorian writer Amadou Koné — a short but unforgettable coming-of-age novel that many francophone West Africans know intimately, yet much of the world has never encountered. Set in...

In this episode, we explore Jacaranda , a novel by Gaël Faye , a Rwandan-French writer and musician whose work moves between memory, exile, and inheritance. Set between France and Rwanda , the novel follows Milan, a young man born in Europe yet pulled persistently toward a history he was never fully told. From televised images of the 1994 genocide to the open-air Gacaca courts, from family silence...

In this episode, we explore Without Prejudice , a memoir by Tidjane Thiam ,  one of the most influential African figures in global finance, whose life has unfolded at the crossroads of power, race, ambition, and belonging. From a rare, privileged, yet at times deeply challenging childhood in post-independence Africa, to elite education in France, to the highest executive roles in global finance, a...

What does it mean to reject (or defend) democracy in Africa? In this episode, we explore Africa Against Democracy: Myths, Denial and Peril, a recent and provocative essay by Senegalese journalist (now Writer), Ousmane Ndiaye. Unlike the well-established works we’ve discussed so far, this is a debut book - tentative in places, urgent in others - that invites reflection. Structured around three cent...

What does it mean to “decolonise the mind”? In this episode, we explore Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o’s influential book Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature  — a work that continues to shape conversations about culture, identity, and creative expression across the continent. Building on our previous episode on Axelle Kabou’s  What if Africa Was Refusing to Develop? , we shift...

What if Africa is  refusing  to develop? This unsettling question lies at the heart of Axelle Kabou’s groundbreaking 1991 book, written originally in French and never translated into English — perhaps because of how provocative it remains. In  Et si l’Afrique refusait le développement? , the Cameroonian author challenges the comforting narratives of victimhood and dependency, urging Africans — esp...

In this episode, we turn our gaze to one of Africa’s most powerful literary voices, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie , and her book Dream Count . This moving work follows four African women — Chia, Omelogor, Zikora, and Kadiatou — each navigating love, ambition, migration, and the harsh weight of injustice. Their stories intertwine into a tapestry of sisterhood, solidarity, and survival . Adichie herself...

In this episode we take you through Dreams of Trespass - Tales of a Harem Girlhood by the Moroccan author Fatima Mernissi. The book is a memoir that whispers, questions, and gently dismantles the walls — both visible and invisible — that shape identity, womanhood, and belonging. Find us on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/threads_of_ifriqiya And TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@threadsofifriqiya...

In this episode we dive into Terre Ceinte , the powerful novel by Mohamed Mbougar Sarr—an exploration of violence, freedom, and resistance in the face of extremism, an extremism too often, rightly or wrongly, associated with Islam. If you want to dive deeper into the haunting world of Terre Ceinte, we invite you to check this reading session of the book by RFI (in French) https://youtu.be/yAqKKemM...