Comrade Dad
1880. A young man, Dabilly, leaves France and a factory job, tempted by the colonial adventure in Africa. In a Côte d'Ivoire deserted by the French army, some leaders of commercial houses negotiate with the native population to make the exchanges fruitful and to establish new factories. Following Dabilly's footsteps, we discover an almost unexplored land, its legends, its pacts and its rituals...
A century later, in Amsterdam, a boy of African origin discusses the post-colonial world with the vocabulary of his communist parents. When they send him to rediscover his roots in Africa, he comes across the traces and archives of his ancestor.
These two views offer a history of colonization as has not been read until now.
Written by Gauz (Armand Patrick Gbaka-Bredé)
Translation of Pedro Suárez and Ángeles Jurado
Cover photo by Robert Harding
Collection: Books of the Baobab
Size: 14.50 x 21.50cm
Pages: 261
Binding: rustic with flaps
ISBN: 978.84.123027.7.6
RRP €19.95 (price without VAT €19.19)
Gauz
He was born in 1971, in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. With a degree in biochemistry, he has made documentaries, cultural programmes, photographs, and articles for a satirical economic newspaper of the Ivory Coast. Since the success of his first novel Getting Paid to Stand Up (Dance of the Sun, 2021), a great literary phenomenon in France, brought him to the forefront of the literary scene, he has travelled more often to Grand-Bassam, the first colonial capital of the Ivory Coast, where this novel begins, the author's second one to be translated into Spanish.
The quality of his work has given him a large number of awards and recognition from readers and critics. His work is characterized by high management of writing, his social satires and the humour that permeates his stories.
Thanks to his works, Gauze has won several awards:
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Prix de libraires Gibert Joseph 2014 for Debout-Payé.
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Best first French novel of 2014 in the annual ranking of Meilleurs livres de l'année du magazine Lire by Debout-Payé.
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Ivory Prize for Francophone African Literature 2018 from the Akwaba Culture Association for Camarade Papa.
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Grand National Bernard Dadié Prize for Literature 2019, within the framework of the African Book Fair of Abidjan by Camarade Papa.
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Black Africa Literary Grand Prize 2018 awarded by the French Language Writers Association for Camarade Papa.
