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Flashmag January 2020 www.flashmag.net
Veronique diarra
Agnonlètè - an Amazon's life
The Book of the month
Flashmag! kicks off the year with a guest whose pen tells the exhilarating story of Africa. Teacher of French based in the Paris area Véronique Diarra is a literary treat. Assumed activist, she is the author of previous novels like: « Non, je ne me tairais plus » “No, I will not be silent anymore" (Wawa Éditions 2018 Collection Lettres métisses) and « Shuka, la danseuse sacrée » "Shuka, the sacred dancer" (Collection Encre Noire 2018 157p).
With "Agnonlètè: Une vie d’Amazone" (Agnonlètè – The life of an Amazon) published in April 2019, she tells the story of a young recruit of the army composed of Amazons who watch over the kingdom of "Ntö". The heroine of Véronique Diarra is a very beautiful girl who still remains a warrior at heart, she scrupulously follows the rules imposed by war craft. She can neither marry nor have children. Her beauty does not fail to arouse passions and capsize hearts of men like King Arôssou; Who despite his rank will not enter the graces of the beautiful warrior.
Hello, Véronique, and welcome to the literary section of Flashmag! Which chose your most recent work as the book of the month at the start of the year. So, what brought you to writing, even if one can argue that it's normal, for a teacher of French?
Véronique Diarra: Hello, Hubert. I am very honored to be featured in the literature section of Flashmag. Since the beginning of my teaching career in Africa then in Europe, I observe the youth and the "charms" of adolescence. So, I can notice a vacuum concerning the History of Africa. Young people know it very little or not. They can possibly only speak of slavery and colonization according to the European version, and this European version does not suit me. It obscures the history of pre-colonial Africa which is nevertheless fascinating and enriching. I decided to write to appeal to young African and Afro descendants. I wish to awaken their conscience so that they take a new look at themselves and adopt the behavior that befits the heirs of a Great Continent. I am also interested in their comrades around the world: they will see that Africa has a brilliant past.
In your works, you seem to depict Africa in what it knew, as grand past. Where does this almost militant desire to write on your continent of origin, come from?
I write about pre-colonial Africa, the one that is little known when it has so much to contribute to the world. I am tired of the redundant refrain that many Western journalists are repeating on Africa. These catchphrases inspire some with pity, others with contempt. I say that Africa has nothing to do with all this. It is time to give it back its letters of nobility by presenting its beauty in all its facets, in an infinite kaleidoscope. This is what I wish to do through the novels that I write. I campaign for the rehabilitation of Africa by the Africans themselves and I believe in the rebirth of this continent.