Despite the dictates of the economy, Casa África has for almost two decades played a great role in promoting the literary and intellectual wealth of Africa. The editing or co-editing of narrative or essay coexists with initiatives such as the Antonio Lozano Reading Club.
It is enough to review the literature section of our magazine’s library to corroborate the contribution that Casa África has had in the dissemination of African literature in Spanish. To learn more about the efforts of the institution based in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, we have spoken with Estefanía Calcines, its head of the Media Library and Web area, and with Ángeles Jurado, journalist from the Communication team and coordinator of its reading club. “When Casa África was created, it was already understood that one of the strengths of the institution to raise awareness among citizens was through intellectual production,” explains Calcines, who was hired in 2007 with the mission of creating a media library that to this day Today it has nearly 20,000 titles specialized in African themes.
But this is only one of the pillars on which Casa África has built its legacy on the continent. They soon detected the need to promote the continent’s literature, including essays and history. This is how the collections of literature, essays and politics were born, the result of collaborations with publishers such as El Cobre, Los Libros de la Catarata or Bellaterra. At first, in a time before the economic crisis, they published six literature titles a year with more than acceptable circulations. Unfortunately, the economic crisis meant a drastic reduction in quantity, but not quality, with titles by Achmat Dangor, Mia Couto, Ken Bugul or Emmanuel Dongala. «A book that I feel especially proud of – says Calcines –, and that was published due to the efforts of my colleague Ángeles Jurado, was Twelve urban stories. Twelve African voices, in which 12 African writers write a story about their city or another that has marked them. We had to contact them and we managed to have the best of the best. There was also a story by Antonio Lozano, an important cultural manager who died too soon and who gives its name to the Casa África reading club. The anthology brings together authors of the stature of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Ken Bugul and, as confirmed by Ángeles Jurado, they are already working on a second part. The budget, if we focus on the literary, is small, but the continuity of the project makes it essential in the dissemination of African literature in our country. «I think we do quite decent things. In a larger publisher there would be more impact, but they only deal occasionally with this literature. Our idea is not to make money, but to disseminate and change stereotypes, so that African writers are known in Spain – says Jurado. I think we are better than ten years ago. And from what I see in the book club, once people are hooked, they are hooked.
The Antonio Lozano Reading Club, coordinated by the Jury herself, has been operating with a mix of in-person and virtual presence since the pandemic. Composed mostly of women, they have tackled all types of genres and authors, and not all of them are African, as in the case of Bernardine Evaristo or Maryse Condé. «It is a very motivating group. He pushes me with his enthusiasm and allows me to do new and interesting things, which also means, for me, working with literary themes, which is what I like the most,” says Ángeles Jurado.
The institution seeks to expand its connection with book fairs and African literary festivals. Both Calcines and Jurado highlight their presence at the Ake Festival, in Lagos (Nigeria), to which they were invited by the author of The secret life of Baba Segui’s wives, Lola Shoneyin, who had previously visited the Las Palmas Book Fair to promote her book. “There we could see the quality, desire and excellence of the work of African authors… It is unfathomable,” says Calcines. «Mia Couto said that literature is a trip without a ticket to other realities. It is often repeated, but it is true that a book connects you in a special way with the culture and the way of understanding life in other places. And we are all connected by the same feelings,” he adds.
Connecting readers with the cultural and human wealth of Africa is the mission of those who promote literary work from Casa África. The truth is that, today, the institution plays a fundamental role in ensuring that African literature finds its space in Spain. «It could be done better, but I think the work is more or less working. When you know a little about African themes and their literature, you can see that people need this type of things,” says Ángeles Jurado.
Above image: Africa House
