Reading: Cave 72

About the novel:

Cave 72, a small bar in Brazzaville, is a favourite meeting place. It belongs to Mâ Vouala, known to everyone as Maman Nationale. Over time, her bar has become a haven for anyone who likes to discuss God and the world, love and everyday madness over a beer.
Verdass, Ferdinand, Didi and Stephan, sworn friends, also meet up at the Cave every evening. One day, a sinister plot is hatched. With a perfidious plan, the regime succeeds in accusing the unsuspecting young men and Maman Nationale of plotting a terrorist coup and arresting them. But there is resistance and the country is thrown into turmoil.

Richly illustrated, eloquent and ironic, Fann Attiki succeeds in creating a bitter portrait of a corrupt, patriarchal power structure that leaves no future opportunities open for the well-educated young generation.

About the author:

Fann Attiki was born in 1992 in Pointe-Noire, Congo-Brazzaville. He fell in love with poetry in 2011 when he took part in a slam workshop. In 2016, he moved to Brazzaville and dedicated himself to writing and theatre. Cave 72, his first novel, was awarded the Prix Voix d'Afriques in 2021.