Latest news with #LaCroiséedesChemins
Ya Biladi
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Ya Biladi
Migrations and World Literatures : A global journey by Salim Jay
Migrations and World Literatures is the latest work by French-Moroccan writer and literary critic Salim Jay. In collaboration with the Council of the Moroccan Community Abroad (CCME) and published by La Croisée des Chemins, this book presents an anthology of novelists from around the world. Drawing from personal experiences and collected testimonies, they narrate «the intimate ins and outs of migration». The author continues his exploration of themes first addressed in Mediterranean Literatures and Migratory Horizons, expanding «towards Somalia and its connection to Italy, Iraq and Syria, not forgetting Cameroon and the United States, Mexico and Hungary, Senegal and Guinea», while also featuring writers from the Maghreb. «Readers will not be surprised by the candor and subtlety of Mohammed Khaïr Eddine recounting his return to Morocco. More surprising is discovering Badawi by the Franco-Syrian Mohed Altrad, now covered in gold, and the harsh reality once lived by George Orwell in Down and Out in Paris and London. Readers will be charmed by Miguel Torga with Senhor Ventura, who takes us to China, and moved by I Did Not Want to Leave by Abdoulaye Soumah, among three dozen fraternal voices that make up Migrations and World Literatures», notes the publisher. Salim Jay particularly questions «the idea that we are human beings and that Earth is our address», hoping to «one day legitimize that no one, anywhere, is confined to their home». Until «the world becomes the country of all and the countries of the world open to everyone», Jay offers a journey through literatures. This anthology is part of that journey, constituting «an invitation to read others, all others, without discrimination, just as we would like it to be possible to approach and welcome others without discrimination».
Ya Biladi
15-03-2025
- General
- Ya Biladi
A book documenting corsair raids from Salé and Algiers on Iceland
The Northern Raid – The History of the Barbary Corsair Raids from Salé and Algiers on Iceland in 1627 is the first book in French to make previously unpublished Icelandic sources accessible, documenting the 17th-century corsair raids on Iceland by forces from Salé and Algiers. Published by La Croisée des Chemins, this historical essay is based on texts never before released outside Iceland. The translations, conducted by Karl Smári, Adam Nichols, and Jade Carameaux-Jurewicz, were supported by the Icelandic Literature Center (Miðstöð íslenskra bókmennta). With a preface by Leïla Meziane, a professor of Modern History at Hassan II University in Casablanca, the book sheds light on a little-known episode in history, previously documented only in Icelandic sources. «In the summer of 1627, two groups of Barbary corsairs attacked Iceland—one from Salé and the other from Algiers. Together, they killed dozens and abducted nearly five hundred people, cramming them into their ships and transporting them to North Africa to be sold in slave markets», notes the publisher. The book also examines the aftermath of these raids, known in Icelandic as Tyrkjaránið, by translating key 17th-century Icelandic accounts. «These four-hundred-year-old documents provide not only detailed descriptions of the corsair raids themselves but also insights into what happened to the Icelandic captives after their transport to Salé and Algiers», the publisher adds. Presented in an essay format, the book offers «a contemporary account by those who lived through the events». To bring this history to light, Karl Smári Hreinsson, an independent university researcher and former assistant professor of Icelandic language and culture at the University of Maryland (USA), collaborated with Adam Nichols, an associate professor at the University of Maryland, and Jade Carameaux-Jurewicz, a lecturer at Collège Montmorency in Montreal (Canada).
Ya Biladi
18-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Ya Biladi
Belgo-Moroccan identities in literature : A new collective work marks 60 years of immigration
To mark the 60th anniversary of the bilateral convention signed between Morocco and Belgium on February 17, 1964, a collective work titled «J'ai deux Amours» (I Have Two Loves) has just been published under the direction of Fatiha Saïdi. Co-published by La Croisée des Chemins (Morocco) and Les Nouvelles Éditions Belges, in partnership with the Council of the Moroccan Community living abroad (CCME), this collection of short stories delves into the plural identities of generations shaped by this immigration. The title, inspired by Joséphine Baker's iconic song—an anthem of anti-racism and resistance—symbolizes the dual cultural belonging experienced by Belgian-Moroccans. Through stories of tension and fulfillment, the texts reveal personal and collective journeys marked by the pursuit of a better future, resilience in the face of sociocultural upheavals, and the richness of inherited legacies. In the foreword, Fatiha Saïdi and Said Ben Ali write: « Literature allows these themes to be illuminated while wrapping emotions, real or imaginary, in words». Meanwhile, in the preface, Nouria Ouali reflects on Joséphine Baker's enduring commitment to fraternity, a spirit that resonates through the contributors' narratives. The collection features contributions from authors such as Taha Adnan, Souad Fila, Mustapha Haddioui, and ten other Moroccan-Belgian writers. Their stories, as reflections of shared humanity, challenge conventional notions of belonging and break down stereotypes surrounding immigration.
