Edwige-Renée Dro Quotes
b. 1980 Ivory Coast
Edwige-Renée Dro (born 1980s) is an Ivorian writer, translator and literary activist.
Random Edwige-Renée Dro quote
35 quotes
As Africans, we need to be questioning ourselves: What is our model of development? Is it having these big buildings and these beautiful wide roads?
As for African literature, I want people to cite names of women’s writers and for those names to roll off the tongue
There is talent however; I want to believe it. We just need to unearth it, and unearth is the operative word here
Everywhere we struggle! We are always hustling! We have day jobs and side job
People talk about how there is good internet penetration in Africa, but it’s only in the urban areas
A problem about our African languages is that people often feel ashamed of speaking them
What I hate is when people expect African writers to write in their indigenous language
The success of African literature will be based on a pan-African approach to literature
Another big problem is that when books are launched, it’s in a gentrified area, so nobody else knows what is happening
I want to get books in translation read, so that everybody has access to literature, whether you finished school in grade two or you have a doctorate.
There is so much literature out there, so much of it beautiful, varied and producing different kinds of conversations
Africa is not rising. If Africa was really rising, you wouldn’t have so many migrants dying in the Mediterranean seas
Mobile phone penetration is very high across Africa, but podcast penetration is not
There is no point editing something that is not written, and no point translating something that is not written or edited
We want the community and the whole country to realize just how much African and black women contributed to writing the stories of these women
50 percent of the population is illiterat
Writers need to have spaces where they can talk about their books/work but I also think the main thing is to get away from this intellectualisation of story writing
When people talk about French being a colonial language, I say no! For me it is not a colonial language
Not every book produced by an African writer is going to be translated into English or Portuguese or Swahili
I identify first and foremost as a writer and I love writing, and reading