Originally posted on the US Embassy website
To commemorate Martin Luther King’s struggle for freedom and justice not only for African-Americans but also for the underprivileged worldwide, the Public Affairs Section organized a literary evening on January 19 at the Ambassador’s Residence to study “The Quest for Freedom and Social Justice in the Literary Work of Bate Besong.”
Born in 1954, Bate Besong was an Anglophone Cameroonian writer who published numerous plays, collections of poems, and essays before his tragic death in a 2007 car accident. Participants included university lecturers, literary critics, writers, research students in literature, publishers, journalists, staff members from two foreign cultural centers in Yaounde, as well as the Ambassador and Embassy staff.
The debate that followed Prof. Bole Butake’s presentation explored the various facets of Bate Besong’s works, including content, style, and literary processes, and debated its present and possible future impact on the collective consciousness. Some participants related his passion for freedom and justice to that of Martin Luther King. Books by Bate Besong and Prof. Bole Butake were displayed at the Residence and the participants received information packages that provided additional information about Martin Luther King, Bate Besong, and the services provided by the IRC. As they left, participants expressed gratitude for the opportunity to discuss literature in an open environment and asked the Ambassador continue the “Café Litteraire” program.
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