“À Contre-Plumes”, ten female voices brought together in the same collection October 2, 2026

Twenty days before the 5th edition of the Dakar Women’s Book Fair, women’s literature is opening a new collective chapter. The Cultur’Elles unveil À Contre-Plumes, the fifth collection of short stories born from the creation and writing residency organized as a prelude to the show.

In April 2026, at the French Institute in Dakar, ten women met around writing, creation and sharing. Accompanied by the writers Sokhna Benga and Mariétou Seck Samb, they worked on their texts throughout this residency, bringing out stories with multiple universes and sensibilities. An approach which is part of the meeting’s desire to create spaces for meeting, transmission and creation around female voices according to Amina Seck, initiator of the Dakar Women’s Book Fair.

Hadassa Mai Lan Gaelle Ndoye, Anna Diedhiou, Maimouna Diallo, Fati Abubacar, Aminata Bocar Ba, Thiongane Awa, Fatoumata Koita, Christina N’da, Marie Paul Weecar Basse and Gael Hottmongo have signed this new collection, published by Le Fil d’Ariane de Mame Ngone Faye.

Read also: In October, Dakar opens its pages

In À Contre-Plumes, “ten authors, ten voices, ten views” offer stories where “the intimate meets the imaginary”, where everyday life becomes literary material and where the characters sometimes refuse the roles assigned to them. A diversity of tones and perspectives which gives substance to this collective collection.

For Amina Seck, this publication also constitutes the culmination of creative work carried out in a framework conducive to exchange. The residency, like the collection that resulted from it, thus intends to extend the dynamic of the Dakar Women’s Book Fair by offering authors a space to write, experiment and make their voices heard.

The public will be able to discover À Contre-Plumes and meet its authors from October 22 to 24, 2026, at Place de la Nation, in Dakar, on the occasion of the fifth edition of the Dakar Women’s Book Fair.

Arame NDIAYE