A binational citizen of Jamaica and Niger, Antoinette TIDJANI ALOU is a Professor of French and Comparative Literature and Director of the Arts and Culture Programme at the Université Abdou Moumouni de Niamey, in Niger where she has lived for more than twenty-five years. She has been the president of the International Society for Oral Literatures of Africa (ISOLA), and a collaborator on the "Women Writing Africa" project. An independent translator, she has published several articles and books. Her first work, On m'appelle Nina (2016) published in French at Présence Africaine: Paris, France, retraces the exilic experiences of a woman who leaves Jamaica for France, then Niger. Tina Shot me Between the Eyes (2017) published in English at Amalion Publishing: Dakar, Senegal, is a short story collection, a volume of poetry and a memoir. She is currently, in Fall 2017, a resident of the IWP (The International Writing Program), University of Iowa, USA. She was a visiting Fulbright professor at the Center for African Studies at the University of Florida, in 2012.

On Friday, November 3, 2017, The African and Middle Eastern Division, Library of Congress, invites to a Lecture by Professor Antoinette Tidjani Alou, The Nigerien Book Lecture Series: Literary Creativity of West Africa and the Sahel. Professor Antoinette Tidjani Alou will be reading and discussing her recent works :"On m'appelle Nina" published by Presence Africaine: Paris, 2017 and "Tina shot me between the eyes and other stories," published in English at
Amalion Publishing: Dakar, Senegal.

The event is free and open to the Public, scheduled from 2pm to 3:00 pm, The African and Middle Eastern Division Reading Room (LJ - 220, Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First St. SE, Washington, DC 20540). For additional information, please contact: Marieta Harper (+1 202 707-1960 or mhar@loc.gov). Please allow time to clear security.

It's the second Lecture by Professor Antoinette Tidjani Alou, at Library of Congress, Washington DC. The previous one was held on Thursday, May 24, 2012, The Secret Faces of Women from the Nigerien Sahel: Agency, Influence and Contemporary Challenges.

Antoinette TIDJANI ALOU is also a screenwriter: she is working on a documentary project : Secret Faces (Toutes voiles dehors), to be directed by Cameroonian iconic filmmaker Jean-Marie Teno. This feature-length HD film, shot in Niger with the impulse of an autobiographical gaze, frames the veil as garment and as metaphor. It explores the private and public strategies of women and the intimate spaces of an unknown world. "SECRET FACES is born out of a filmmaker and an academic's shared reflection on autobiography. These veil tales exceed the religious; the veil has become a societal issue whose implications expand far beyond the borders of Niger", according to the Director's note.

Thierno I. Dia
Africiné Magazine(Dakar) / Africultures (Paris)