With books of contemporary French literature
In front of me in the room, the girls stood up and introduced themselves in turn. They were learning French in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, or Artsakh, from which the population was expelled by Azerbaijan in September 2023.
They recount the painful exodus of their families, the feeling of abandonment and then the welcome they received in Armenia. One of them weeps silently as she recalls the heartbreak, while another, smiling, goes off to sing. Behind them, a library of books in French.
We are at the Centre Francophone SPFA in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, where Hélène and Habetnak, who run the centre, have invited me. In Paris, I met Janik, the warm and enterprising president of the association.
‘We do have the classic French literature, but we don’t have any of the contemporary French literature that we would so much like to read’, the young students, mainly girls, tell me.
There are 7 French-speaking centres in Armenia, including the one in Stepanakert in Nagorno-Karabakh, which is now closed. I went there in February 2021 with Bernard Kouchner and Patrice Franceschi. We attended dance classes, choir and jazz band rehearsals. Now it’s empty, with students and teachers in exile in Armenia.
A few days later, in Ilijan, at a school where French is taught, we were received by the French ambassador and our delegation (mayors, foundation). The pupils sang their national anthem with great skill, followed by a Jacques Brel song, recited a poem and honoured us with a Marseillaise. It was beautiful and the emotion was palpable.
I found the same atmosphere in Goris, in the province of Syunik on the border with Azerbaijan, where Carmen enthusiastically runs the SPFA French-speaking centre, which welcomes students and refugees who come to meet up, help each other and work in the sewing workshop.
How can we help them ?
What I feel at this moment, intuitively, is the vital need for Armenians not to be alone in adversity and to be able to count on friends.
For them, learning French means discovering another culture and being able to share their country with us. As always and as everywhere, the smallest peoples are the most threatened, especially when they live at the confluence of former empires that aspire to become so again, willingly or by force.
Back in Yerevan, the ambassador, Olivier Decottignies, invited me to a meeting with Dominique Vaysse from the Cooperation and Cultural Action Department, along with Marie and William in charge of humanitarian aid, development and economic cooperation.
We share the same observation. There is a clear lack of contemporary French-language literature.
Together with our donors and partners, Défis Humanitaires is able to bring them the books we’ve been looking forward to reading here. Daniel Pennac, Marie Desplechin, Anna Gavalda, Amin Maalouf, Enki Bilal, Sylvain Tesson, Riad Sattouf and many others.
The aim is to bring together between 2,000 and 3,000 new books for different levels of French, from age 10 and over to age 18. 60 establishments have been selected in the country’s 11 regions, ranging from primary schools to universities, as well as secondary schools, public libraries and French-speaking centres.
And we’re already dreaming of all those books on the library shelves and all those readers who will be able to discover these literary universes, these stories, these reflections that are so many bridges between us.
This project could be yours.
To make this dream come true, we need your support – readers, foundations, associations, local authorities and institutions – both to finance this project and to promote it, support it and give it the visibility and impact it needs. With this project, we will also be paying tribute to Charles Aznavour, whose 100th birthday we are celebrating, and to Missak and Mélinée Manouchian, who are now buried in the Panthéon.
I invite you to make a donation today to our project ‘Arménie, des livres de littérature francophone contemporaines pour les étudiants’, here: (faireundon).
Publishers, foundations, local authorities, associations – you can help by making a donation and by contacting me at this address: contact@défishumanitaires.com
This project, which has the support of the French Embassy in Armenia, the Armenian Embassy in France, the SPFA Francophone Centres, the Syndicat National de l’Edition and the writer Sylvain Tesson, can also be yours.
This project depends on you! Thank you for making it possible (faireundon).
Many thanks.
Alain Boinet.
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Offer books of contemporary French literature For students in Armenia Thank you for offering a book thanks to your donation: link (I offer a book).
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Alain Boinet is President of the association Défis Humanitaires, which publishes the online magazine www.defishumanitaires.com. He is the founder of the humanitarian association Solidarités International, of which he was Managing Director for 35 years. He is also a member of the Groupe de Concertation Humanitaire at the Centre de Crise et de Soutien of the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, and of the Board of Directors of Solidarités International, the Partenariat Français pour l’Eau (PFE), the Véolia Foundation and the Think Tank (re)sources. He continues to travel to the field (Northeast Syria, Nagorno-Karabakh/Artsakh and Armenia) and to speak out in the media.