Sami Tchak & Annie Ferret: Dishonouring famous myths and exploring Togo and France
– Togo
Sami Tchak (real name Sadamba Tcha-Koura, born 1960 in Bowounda) is a Togolese writer. After graduating in philosophy from the University of Lomé in 1983, he taught in a high school. In 1986, he came to France to study sociology. He received his PhD at the Sorbonne in 1993.
Based on his research in Cuba in 1996, he wrote an essay Prostitution in Cuba. Communism, ruses and tricks. His literary work has been greatly influenced by Mexican and Colombian culture. Starting with the novel Hermina from 2003, his works take place in imaginary Latin American settings which in reality more resemble Africa. In addition to short stories and articles that have been published in several magazines and revues, he has published six novels and four essays.
In 2004, Sami Tchak received the Grand Prix of Black African Literature for the entire range of his work. In 2025, the novel-essay Profaner Ananda (Dishonour Amand), written with Annie Ferret, was published.
Annie Ferret is a writer and professional model. She lives in her native working-class neighbourhood on the outskirts of Paris. In her texts, she deals with art and observation, and with memory and the process of its transmission from generation to generation in the unspoken and in the shadows it leaves in the body. She is still strongly tied to West Africa, especially Togo and Mali, where she regularly travels and where she puts some of her stories.
She has published books of short stories, novellas, and so far, two novels: Les Hyènes (Hyenas, Grasset, 2021) and Un Petit wonder (Small Wonder, éditions Project’îles, 2024).