The Alliance Française de Banjul is proud to host, for the second consecutive year, the writing residency for the “FESTHI”. FESTHI, an inter-school theater festival supported by the French Embassy in Senegal and Gambia, has been taking place in these two countries for four years. This festival provides a platform where thousands of students, from elementary to high school, perform plays written during a writing residency by French-speaking authors.
In April 2025, the writing residency will host three authors: Amina Jules Dia, Kouam Tawa, and Adebayo Adjaho. Throughout the month, these authors will draw inspiration from their Gambian discoveries to write plays on the theme “Create, Innovate, and Venture in French”, aimed at young Senegalese and Gambian students.
The written plays will be illustrated, edited, and distributed to the participating classes in Senegal and Gambia. This project, which promotes the French language, supports creation and innovation, while strengthening the cultural ties between the two countries.
Adebayo Adjaho, a philosophy teacher, poet, and playwright, is originally from Porto-Novo, Benin. He took his first steps in the world of literature with the Biscottes Littéraires blog. He is also interested in slam: in 2018, he won the national slam and poetry competition in Benin, representing his country at the first edition of the African Slam and Poetry Cup in Chad. From 2018 to 2023, he dedicated himself to slam projects while developing his dramatic writing, creating plays such as Les grands guignols de l’invisible and La gâchette. In 2024, he contributed to the writing of the collection Xanu Xami and wrote the play Les oubliables during a writing residency in Benin. His play has already been performed over twenty times and was presented at the Rencontres Théâtre Jeune Public Festival in Benin in August 2024.