Quilombola!

Series Editor: Léonora Miano

Quilombola is a Brazilian word for the inhabitant of a maroon, or ‘runaway-slave’ community. The choice of this appellation is a tribute to those who, throughout human history, have stood up against oppression. However, there is more in this reference: it speaks both about freedom regained and about all the creative gestures that stemmed from that conquest. For those who had broken their chains, the quilombo was a place of reappropriation and reinvention of oneself. It is by inviting writers and readers to practice marronnage—‘running away from slavery’—of thought, to shift their way of thinking, that the series Quilombola! stands out. This list of books is a space from which resonate insubordinate, inventive, provocative and unexpected voices. Whether artists, activists or intellectuals, the authors of Quilombola! bring a sensitive reflection on the world and forge new paths. Although focusing on sub-Saharan African and French-speaking Afropean expressions, we welcome minority points of view from other places too. The series aims at making itself accessible to a large readership in order to promote a wider circulation of thought. It is on this condition that it will come to meaningful fruition.