August Reading 2024

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Last year, I attended a book chat at the 2023 Aké Arts and Book Festival in Lagos State, Nigeria. The session was hosted by the Ivorian writer and literary translator, Edwige-Renée Dro, who led a conversation with French-Rwandan author Beata Umubyeyi Mairesse, who wrote All Your Children, Scattered, and Cameroonian novelist and author of Days Come and Go, Hemley Boum. Both authors discussed their books, originally written in French and translated into English, providing a rich glimpse into Francophone African literature.

This panel was one of the highlights of the festival for me. It was culturally immersive, offering insight into the realities of life in their respective countries through their stories. I was particularly drawn to their novels because of my growing interest in translated African fiction. Immediately after the panel, I headed to the festival bookstore and picked up copies of All Your Children, Scattered and Days Come and Go. I was thrilled to have both books signed by these fantastic authors.

Fast forward from November 2023 to May 2024, I finally decided to read Days Come and Go. Months later, I still have not encountered a more poignant and devastatingly beautiful book. The novel captures the essence of a rapidly changing Cameroon through the intertwined lives of three generations of women. Boum masterfully explores themes of love, politics, tradition and modernity, and religious extremism with immense care and empathy. So far this year, Days Come and Go stands out as the best book I have read.