Ibrahima Aya (Mali) fiction
Pro Helvetia Fellowship
A native of the Timbuktu region in Mali, Ibrahima Aya is a writer and editor. Co-founder of Editions Tombouctou, he lives in Bamako. He has notably published Les larmes de Djoliba, Les âniers de la Casbah, Querelle autour d’un âge, Rires et pleurs des orphelins. He has also participated in or co-edited the writing of several collective works including: Voix hautes pour Tombouctou, Le Mali entre doutes et espoirs, Le Mali contemporain.Le pays des éclipses, published in 2021, is his latest work. He is the co-founder and director of the "Rentrée littéraire du Mali", the literary event of reference in Mali, created in 2008.
This residency is supported by Pro Helvetia
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Améziane Ferhani (Algeria) fiction, non fiction
Pro Helvetia Fellowship
Born in 1954 in Algiers where he lives and works, he devoted himself, after his studies in urban sociology, to cultural journalism and communication, his second passion. He was editor-in-chief of the monthly magazine Parcours Maghrébins and of the weekly Arts & Lettres, a supplement to the daily newspaper El Watan.
He has published collections of short stories, Traverses d'Alger (Chihab, 2015) and Les couffins de l'équinoxe (Chihab, 2018) as well as a beautiful book on the history of Algerian comics (Dalimen, 2012). He has participated in several collective works on heritage and culture and is the author or prefacer of many art catalogs.
Very active on the cultural scene as an organizer or programmer, he was notably responsible for the communication of the Year of Algeria in France (2003). In 2018, he was elevated to the rank of Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the French Minister of Culture. Since February 2023, he is a founding member of Ramali, the African Network of Literary Events. He is currently completing a novel.
This residency is supported by Pro Helvetia
Anne-Frédérique Rochat (Switzerland) fiction
State of Vaud Fellowship
Anne-Frédérique Rochat was born in 1977 in Vevey. In 2000, she graduated from the Conservatoire d'Art Dramatique de Lausanne. Shortly after, she began writing plays and then novels, finding a different, but complementary pleasure in the exercise of these two literary genres. Today eight of her plays have been performed, and she has published nine novels. The latest, Quand meurent les éblouissements was published by Éditions Slatkine in 2022. She lives in Lausanne.
This residency is supported by Canton de Vaud
Steffen Schroeder (Germany) fiction
Steffen Schroeder was well-known as an actor, when his first book was published, a memoir on his voluntary service in prison; it was followed by the novels Mein Sommer mit Anja (2020) and Planck oder Als das Licht seine Leichtigkeit verlor (2022). Steffen Schroeder is member of the German Film Academy, and appointed ambassador of EXIT Germany, due to the commitment against rightist extremism.
Nelly Shulman (Russia) fiction, non fiction
Nelly Shulman is a writer currently based in Berlin. She is an author of seven popular novels. Nelly is working on her next novel about the Russian emigres in 1920s and on the non-fiction book about the Russian revolution. She is a Hawthornden Fellow and a Fulbright scholar. Her work has appeared on JewishFiction.net, in the Vine Leaves Press Anthology of the Best 2021 Flash Fiction and in the various literary magazines. She is a winner of two writing awards.
This residency is supported by S. Fischer Stiftung
