6TH EDITION OF THE LITERARY CAFÉ: A PORTRAIT OF NOTORIETY
The event, which forms part of the Institution's human capital enhancement programme, also served to celebrate the thirty-year career of writer and journalist Hugues François Onana, an eyewitness to the major events in the history of Cameroon and Africa, which he shares with the public through his writings.
The conference room on the 8th floor of the NSIF Building at Avenue des Banques was full from 4 pm on Wednesday the 29th of January 2025 by an enthusiastic audience of NSIF staff and personalities from various walks of life, invited to the 6th Edition of the Institution's Literary Café.
The huge turnout was hardly surprising, given the intellectual added value that the Literary Café now provides, particularly in terms of strengthening the Institution's human capital by encouraging staff to read literary works.
A view of the panel
Cameroonian literature in the light of the rich writing career of Hugues François Onana, a seasoned journalist who, on this occasion, shared at length with an attentive audience his experiences and his impressions of the political transitions in Africa and certain key moments in contemporary international relations.
Before getting to the heart of the event, the Director General, Noël Alain Olivier Mekulu Mvondo Akame, invited all those attending this literary event to “pay close attention to the rich exchanges that will follow”.
The rest of the café was followed by an in-depth review by renowned literary critic Hervé Akame. At the heart of his talk was a presentation of the author's seven books, which are part of a Pan-Africanist approach and a condemnation of the hegemonism of certain superpowers on the international scene.
Professor François Marc Modzom, Director of the Advanced School of Mass Communication (ASMAC) and a close companion of the author, then drew a portrait of the guest of the day, moderated by Mrs Chetah Bile, a journalist with the Cameroon Radio Television (CRTV).
After this, the author took the floor to share with his guests his thoughts and experiences as a committed writer, as well as his own experiences as a budding writer over the past thirty years, a journalist with the National Broadcasting House and a university lecturer, always at the service of the nation, which he described as “his compass”. Seven books of various approaches, which will give rise to a question and answer session, to better understand the author's apprehensions.
The Director General and his close collaborators around the author
The 6th Edition of the Literary Café lived up to expectations, covering in a literary toga a man with a remarkable career, nurtured on three cardinal values: creativity, insight and credibility. In the end, it was a triptych that enabled him to make his mark on the national intellectual scene, and of course to leave his footprints on the NSIF Literary Café.
