A year after the publication of his book Anthología de voces camerunesas de expresión española: entre oralidad y lírismo, Dr. Narcisse Fomekong, a founding member of Muna Kalati, has just received a second distinction as the Best Book on Hispanism in 2022.
After two years of vacillation due to the Covid health crisis, the Madrid Book Fair was held from 27 May to 12 June 2022. It is an event during which authors who have distinguished themselves during the year receive awards. Among other prizes awarded by the Sial Pigmalión Publishing Group, we have the prize for the Best Book on Historical, Artistic and Architectural Cultural Heritage awarded to María del Mar Lozano Bartolozzi, the prize for the Best Investigative Journalistic Book awarded to Nuria Ramos, the prize for the best Poetic Book awarded to Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo, the prize for the best English Edition awarded to Rosemary Clark, the prize for the best Hispanic-African Author awarded to Augusto Iyanga Pendi and the prize for the best Hispanic book awarded to Narcisse Fomekong Djeugou.
This prize for the best Hispanic book is awarded to the work produced by a Hispanist. That is, a person who has not only taken a course in Hispanic studies but also has the Hispanic or Spanish-speaking world as his field of research. Narcisse Fomekong does fall into this category as he holds a PhD in Hispanic Studies. More specifically, his work focuses on “other Spanish-language literatures“. These are texts produced in countries that do not have a direct colonial relationship with Spain or that have not had long-lasting relationships. These are creations produced directly in Spanish in the United States, Asia, Africa: in countries such as Ivory Coast, Senegal and Togo, to name a few.
Book signing of the author at the Madrid Book Fair in 2022
Anthología de voces camerunesas de expresión española: entre oralidad y lírismo, sums up the texts of nineteen Cameroonian poets of Spanish expression with an introductory analysis that reviews the introduction of the Spanish language in Cameroon, the motivations of the Cameroonian authors and especially the themes they address. This is the second prize won with the anthology after the Justo Bolekia Bolekà Prize for the best African writer of the year.
Narcisse Fomekong is a writer who charts his own path and is on a right path, taken into consideration his accolades, the future surely looks bright. In addition to the anthology mentioned, he is the author of The Stairs of Life, a collection of poems published in 2016. He has several unpublished texts and others awaiting publication. He navigates between essay, poetry, novel and children’s literature. This last category is the reason why he joined the Muna kalati project, the first platform for the promotion of children’s literature in Africa. The entire Muna Kalati team and community is delighted with this honorary distinction which celebrates the consistent and excellent work of Narcisse Fomekong in the field of African literature.
