CONTENTS | ANB-BIA HOMEPAGE | WEEKLY NEWS
by Alain Agboton, Senegal, January 1999
THEME = CULTURE
A Conference devoted to preserving and encouraging African poetry
in today's world,
took place in Dakar, in November 1998, and was a great success.
The theme was important for scholars, as the whole question of
preserving African poetry as a valid literary form was researched
Many authors and poets from both Africa and other continents took part in the Conference. The French-speaking Community and the Publishing House for African and International Poetry, founded and directed by the poet, Amadou Lamine Sall, provided sterling help so the Conference could get off the ground.
Amadou Lamine Sall is a well-known Senegalese poet. He's written a number of collections of poems which have been translated into both English and German and are on the study programmes of a number of universities. He's considered a worthy representative of the emerging "new generation" of African poets.
The opening ceremony took place at the Léopold Sédar Senghor Foundation - a fitting rendezvous for such a Conference. The stakes were high - how to use the poetic form to describe and overcome present-day anxieties; to find solutions to the problems of the moment; to reconcile humankind with itself. This means re- discovering and furthering the spoken word, especially in Africa, where stories, songs and poetry have always been part of Africa's traditional way of life.
De Boufflers once said: "To point the way forward, our society needs poets, just as night needs the stars to light up the sky". The Conference aimed to clearly examine how poetry, as a literary form, has its place in today's society and indeed, has much to offer the world as it is today.
There were poetry readings, viva voce tributes, discussions about traditional oral methods of communicating. All this made for a lively sharing of ideas between participants. While many people's experience of poetry is limited to reading poems, poetry has a place in drama and other artistic forms.
The poet-participants regretted the overpowering influence of the novel to the detriment of poetry. They listed problems connected with publishing their work. They situated the work of Léopold Sédar Senghor and Birago Diopin in the history of modern African literature, and noted that it has been no easy matter for a new generation of poets to follow in the footsteps of two such "giants" of the literary scene, or indeed, to create their own form of poetry.
The conference sought to draw out what must be done so that poets can find their own ways of expressing their thoughts in today's mechanised world. The discussions aimed at re-evaluating the importance of poetry and the place of poets in today's society - a society which has become unstable, disorientated, aimless, just drifting along. One thing is clear: humankind needs to have aims in life - aims which may presently be but dreams - but dreams which one day will hopefully be turned into reality.
Poetry is not simply words - it is part of life itself. Poets are well-placed (conference went so far as to say, the "best- placed") to find solutions to problems facing present-day society. Looking at today's world, we see how society is dictated to by those "who have". Those "who have not" are the victims. This gave rise to an animated discussion - as human beings, what is our position in a consumer's society?
During the conference, the ground was prepared so that Dakar can become "the city of African poetry", in much the same way as Ouagadougou is for the Pan-African Film and Television Festival (FESPACO) and Abidjan for the African Performing Arts Festival (MASA). The very first Senghor Prize was awarded to a poet from Québec, Canada.
Are there any new perspectives these days? Obviously, a whole new generation of African poets must be given every encouragement to find their own way, and develop their own talents in the midst of the society where they find themselves. They must be inspired to react against a world where people no longer think for themselves - a world which is increasingly under the spell of "globalisation".
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