Small Country

Product Information

Faye is at the end of a whirlwind tour around the United States, promoting the English translation of his 2016 novel, Small Country , the popular success of which he says he has had a hard time keeping up with. The story is based on his own experiences of growing up métis (mixed race—he is French-Rwandan) in Bujarumba (the capital of Burundi), as well as the civil war and genocide that forced his family to flee to Paris in 1995 when he was 13. He wrote the novel at the prompting of Parisian editor Catherine Nabokov, who first became interested in Faye’s talent for rhyme and narrative when she heard her teenage son listening to his music. She reached out to Faye to ask if he could write books, too. As it turned out, Nabokov’s instincts were right: Small Country has won several prestigious literary prizes in France, including the Prix du premier roman français and the Prix Goncourt des lycéens. In 2016, the book sold over 700,000 copies in the French-speaking world alone, and it is currently being adapted into a movie.

Had high hopes for this. Hotel Rwanda is one of my top movies and I expected similar here except for a hotel, the setting would be a family. I was expecting ESCAPE FROM MOGADISHU set during the Rwanda massacres. Colpisce, ma forse anche no, che all’epoca, dall’aprile al luglio del 1994, abbiamo ignorato quello che stava succedendo in Rwanda (ma questo piccolo libro accenna anche a quello che era successo prima, a partire dall’indipendenza, in Rwanda e in Burundi), e adesso se ne parli perché a scriverne è un famoso rapper, la cui fama illumina un angolo di mondo rimasto troppo a lungo al buio. Valérie Trierweiler, « Gaël Faye, retour au Petit Pays», sur parismatch.com, 23 août 2020 (consulté le 22 février 2021) In Small Country, a man grapples with the senselessness of war and it's permanent effects. From a young age, Gaby wants nothing more than to overcome his overwhelming fear, but that seems to become an impossibility after everything he witnesses. I liked the writing, so my reservations are mostly a matter of storytelling preferences. There are many powerful scenes, but there was also an emotional gap that I couldn’t bridge.Nabokov remembers visiting Faye in Rwanda’s capital, Kigali, where he lived for a time with his wife and daughters, when they received the first proofs of Small Country. For Gaby and Ana, Bujumbura is home, it is where they belong. Each day unfolds according to routine, as the domestics arrive, the gate is opened, thy prepare for school, are driven there, there is a little change as Gaby begins college and new friendships develop. His close friends live in the same alleyway, the twins, Gino, Armand. And Francis who they conflict with. They hang out in an abandoned Combi, talking, laughing, planning things. Coup de coeur Parole Enregistrée et Documents Sonores 2017», sur Académie Charles-Cros (consulté le 15 novembre 2021) Laure Broulard, « Au Rwanda, grande première pour le film Petit pays», sur Le Monde, 13 mars 2020 (consulté le 21 avril 2020). Although the novel is not autobiographical, it is based on Gaël Faye's own experiences growing up in Burundi during this period. Gaël Faye himself was born in 1982 in Bujumbura to a French father and Rwandan mother. Just like Gaby, at the age 13, he emigrated to France with his family, escaping the Burundian civil war. I had to leave. She told me to keep these words in memory of her: beware of the cold, watch over your secret gardens, become rich in your readings, your encounters, your loves, never forget where you come from... Petit Pays is a haunting coming-of-age story about what it means to belong and to grow up during a period where violence and resentments reach their peaks. It is a tale of loss, family and friends, disrupted lives, beautiful and painful memories, and the burden and gift of survival.

French-Rwandan Gaël Faye is an author, composer and hip hop artist. He was born in 1982 in Burundi, and has a Rwandan mother and French father. In 1995, after the outbreak of the civil war and the Rwandan genocide, the family moved to France. Gaël studied finance and worked in London for two years for an investment fund, then he left London to embark on a career of writing and music.

Gaël Faye en lice pour le Goncourt», sur Le Parisien, 26 octobre 2016 (consulté le 26 octobre 2016). Petit Pays est adapté au cinéma sous le même nom par Éric Barbier, sur un scénario qu'il a co-écrit avec Gaël Faye. Il est tourné au Rwanda et sort en 2020 [21 ].