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Papa Ngady Faye, from Senegal to Italy, importer of African literature
Amadou in his house in southern Italy, June 22, 2022. © Papa Ngady Faye
Text by: Léopold Picot Follow
7 mins
Papa Ngady Faye is a Senegalese immigrant to Italy.
Arrived illegally 17 years ago in the south of Italy, he started selling books in the street a bit by chance.
Years later, he obtained Italian citizenship and founded his traveling publishing house to supply book sellers with quality works.
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Straw hat on his head – he will exchange during the interview with a bowler hat – and colorful shirt, Papa Ngady Faye picks up the call all smiles.
Wedged in his chair, the Italian of Senegalese origin recounts his journey, interspersed with the cries of his youngest daughter.
His brother, discreet, performs his prayer in front of him on his mat.
The atmosphere is peaceful and one immediately feels the fullness of the man who has found his way in life.
The Italian from Senegal
Papa Ngady Faye was born in 1970 in Dakar.
His parents are from Sokone, in the west of the country.
He is part of the griot caste, the Senegalese bards.
“
My father is a rigorous lion.
His words are gifts and we understood that when we got here
,” recalls the book seller, the soft but hesitant voice of someone who hasn't spoken French for a long time.
"
He told us: 'You should always know that nothing in life is free, you should never try to get things easily.'
Because today you are here, but tomorrow you don't know where you will spend the night.
After school, Papa Ngady Faye worked as a docker in the port of Dakar, then as a site manager for a real estate contractor.
After a few years of working, he decided to leave for Europe.
With a French visa, the young 35-year-old father, who left his wife and two daughters in Senegal, entered Italy in July 2005. Why Italy?
For his way of life.
"
I liked the way they dressed: I dressed well in Senegal, so much so that many of my friends already called me 'Italian'... And I have always supported Italy at football
," he laughs.
Proof of his attachment to his father, there, he calls himself Amadou, like him.
Papa Ngady Faye for Senegal, Amadou for Italy… without ever forgetting either of them: he keeps strong ties with his land and his family back home.
Alas, only five months after his arrival, his Senegalese wife dies in her country of origin.
He finds support in pain.
“
You will always find people who will help you, who will guide you, there are many Senegalese here who sell a lot of clothes, books, bracelets.
And me, I had the chance to meet the sale of books
”, he recognizes.
However, it was not won.
Originally, he was not particularly attached to literature, even if he said he was sensitive to it.
He is even rather disappointed not to be able to work as a construction foreman.
Quickly however, he lets himself be won over by the experience.
“
I was handsome, I was young, I was smiling.
I found that badly dressed people had more difficulty making money, so I dressed well, I was polite… People came to take pictures with me!
".
Above all, he likes the contact with people and the exchanges that ensue.
From seller to storyteller
Four years later, a meeting will truly change his life there.
The one with his ex-wife, Antonella Colletta.
He met her by chance, on a beach, while selling her a book: you can't make it up.
She is a French teacher, translator and researcher in French-speaking African and West Indian literature.
Without even realizing it, like a real griot, he tells her about his life and, passionately, she decides to put it down on paper: "
We spoke in a natural way, like that, and the book was written little by little.
When she read it to me, I stayed a day without understanding what had happened (laughs).
»
The Bookseller, centered on the life of Amadou, has not yet been translated into French, but has been translated into German.
© Leopold Picot
The book tells his life, that of Amadou.
He spins the metaphor of mint tea, a very important drink in Senegal;
and each sip takes him back, revealing his life little by little.
“
This book is my book, because I had a wife who was able to translate my emotions.
I managed to tell this story, because it's mine: this book is me
,” says the storyteller.
There, everything changes.
God willing.
The destiny of a book seller
sells well: it will nevertheless change its title
to The Seller of Books
, so that all book sellers can project themselves into it.
He is invited to seminars, radio shows, gives interviews.
The traveling salesman even found himself giving a speech to students in Paris, describing what it is to be a leader.
In particular, he said to the assembly: “
People today no longer read.
When they see you with books in the streets, they don't consider you a worker.
But if you have this social intelligence, you move forward.
A leader must be patient, because if you're not patient, you won't get anywhere.
It's patience that allows you to understand life, to meet people: in my work, I meet everyone, the angry person as well as the generous person, and I learn to listen to them.
»
A piece of Senegal to pass on
Now a naturalized Italian, Papa Ngady Faye supplies itinerant booksellers.
His association is called
Modu Modu
, from the Wolof which could be translated as: “
Those who leave thinking of their land of origin
”.
Because today, the book sellers that Papa Ngady Faye accompanies no longer sell just any books.
"
I was tired of being told that the books we were selling were fake, full of errors, that the stories made no sense... So we wanted to bring African literature to the streets of Italy, in good editions.
Because the form is as important as the substance
,” he recalls.
To discover authors, share a culture and live from it.
To do this, he flew to Senegal and went to a publishing house.
He talks about his project to create a traveling publishing house to promote African literature.
Solid in his arguments, he finally manages to obtain rights, he recalls proudly.
"
I brought back the two titles I wanted: 'A so long letter'
,
by Mariama Bâ, and 'L'appel des Arènes', by Aminata Sow Fall, our writers, those that we Senegalese have in the skin...
” Since then, he has tirelessly surveyed schools and libraries, helping book sellers to obtain good books, in order to import African literary culture to Italy.
Senegalese author Aminata Sow Fall during a photo shoot in 2017 in Dakar.
She is one of the Senegalese authors imported into the Italian streets by Papa Ngady Faye.
AFP - SEYLLOU
The traveling vendors, who sell
Modu Modu
's books , thus bring quality and carry with them bits of their cultures, which they are proud to sell on Italian beaches, squares and streets.
Evidenced by the comments on the association's website: "
The books are of good quality and the smile of the seller who proudly speaks to you about his land marks your day
", "
Unfortunately I lost my beloved book 'Le Conte de Mother Nature'
to which I am very attached and I would like to be able to buy it again.
Is it possible ?
And how ?
Thank you very much
” “
Hello, I too bought a book from you a few months ago from a guy near Lecce.
How can I buy more?
".
The list is long, as long as the big communicative smile of Papa Ngady Faye.
►
To read also: Eliatha Cissé, the theater to close the wounds of domestic violence
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