by Johanna McCalmont

If you’ve ever had the pleasure of hearing Edwige Renee Dro talk or had the chance to meet her in person, you’ll know that she’s a real force of nature. A woman of many talents, she has collaborated on a host of exciting literary projects, including the Afro Young Adult Fiction Project Anthology, the Eyala African feminist blog and the Bakwa Magazine Literary Translation Workshop. Now, in addition to her work as a writer, translator, editor and literary activist, she also recently opened 1949 Books, a library of women’s writings from Africa and the Black world in her home city of Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire and it has fast become a hive of activity for her local community.

She set up the 1949 library in Yopougon Abidjan to address the social inequalities she saw in the city of Abidjan and adopted a feminist approach because she was fed up seeing the stories of African and black women being buried.

But where did the name come from? Dro explains that she chose the name to pay homage to the year of the big marches of women in Côte d’Ivoire against the colonial administration, first in August and again in December. Edwige wants to shine a spotlight on the range of literature written by African and Black women on all subjects. She is also keen to encourage reading, education, and giving women, men, and children examples of this body of literature.

Hearing Dro talk about 1949 Books, it’s clear that it is much more than just a library for borrowing books. It is a buzzing hive of activity, with much to offer readers of all ages. Younger children can join the Saturday-morning balades littéraires storytelling sessions and travel Africa through picture books, taking them from Nigeria to Mauritius and beyond. Visitors are drawn in by not only the menu boards outside listing the mouthwatering meals being served up by the kitchen, but also the ‘literary titrologie’ posters featuring extracts from books, much like the way local newsstands post catchy summaries of the news stories. Last month, she launched the first writing and editing masterclasses to encourage authors along the path to publication. Dro also hopes to be able to offer a writing residency in the not-to-distant future, so keep your eyes peeled for news about that too!

To help World Kid Lit celebrate Reading Africa, Edwige has opened the virtual doors to her library to tell us which books her borrowers love the most. Be sure to check them out or request them at your local library too!

Not counting the Akissi series, which are 1949’s most-borrowed books, the top three titles are:

Read more about Edwige’s library at Brittle Paper here and Publishing Perspectives here. And be sure follow her on Instagram here too!