The Places Where My Dreams Live

As part of the event series «Issues of our Time», the renowned author Felwine Sarr is coming to Basel. Felwine Sarr's books «Afrotopia» and «The Restitution of African Cultural Heritage. Toward a New Relational Ethics» (co-written with Bénédicte Savoy) have sparked worldwide debates. An excerpt from Afrotopia will be part of our Sahara anthology and we will present his theater piece «Traces» as part of Culturescapes 2023 Sahara this fall. Together with political scientist and theorist Achille Mbembe, he founded the « Ateliers de la Pensée », an association of scientists and artists with the goal of creating a place for intellectual debate in Africa. Now, his first novel has been published in German. It tells the story of two brothers from Senegal who take very different paths in life. One leads a traditional life in Senegal, the other goes to France for studies. In the event series «Issues of our Time» important thinkers from various disciplines take a stand on pressing contemporary issues and illuminate critical contexts that are driving today's societies. The event series is a collaboration between the Kunstmuseum Basel and the Literaturhaus Basel and, in this case, with Culturescapes 2023 Sahara. Felwine Sarr (*1972 in Niodior, Senegal) is a social scientist, writer, musician, publisher, and teaches Romance Studies at Duke University in Durham (USA). He has published several volumes of short prose and stories. «Les lieux qu'habitent mes rêves» [The Places Where My Dreams Live] is his first novel. Felwine Sarr lives in Senegal and the USA.  The talk will be held in English. Excerpts from the book will be read in German.