Festivals

Litquake 2022 – Days Come and Go: Hemley Boum with John McMurtrie

Oct 16, 2022|1:30pm

1:30 – 2:30 pm PT

The Drawing Room Annex | 780 Valencia Street | San Francisco, CA

This event has already taken place.

Event admission is free. Registration is strongly recommended.

Chronicling the beauty and turmoil of a rapidly changing Cameroon, Days Come and Go is the remarkable story of three generations of women both within and beyond its borders. Through the voices of Anna, a matriarch living out her final days in Paris; Abi, Anna’s thoroughly European daughter (at least in her mother’s eyes); and Tina, a teenager who comes under the sway of a militant terrorist faction, Boum’s epic is generous and all-seeing. A page-turner by way of Frantz Fanon and V. S. Naipaul, this stirring English-language debut (translated by Nchanji Njamnsi) offers a discerning portrait of a nation that never once diminishes the power of everyday human connection. Hemley Boum will discuss her work with editor John McMurtrie.

“One of the most powerful books I’ve read this year.” —Jennifer Martin, Tattered Cover bookstore

Part of Litquake’s Words Around the World series, sponsored by the Center for the Art of Translation. This event is also sponsored in part by Villa Albertine San Francisco and a grant from Grants for the Arts.

Author

Hemley Boum

Hemley Boum is the author of four novels, including Les Maquisards, which received the Grand prix littéraire de l’Afrique Noire, and Days Come and Go (Les jours viennent et passent), winner of the Prix Amadou Kourouma, which has been translated into both German and Dutch. Hemley was born in Cameroon, where she studied anthropology before relocating to Lille, France, to study international trade. She currently lives in Paris, France.

Speaker

John McMurtrie

John McMurtrie is an independent book editor. He is senior editor of the literary journal Zyzzyva, a contributing editor of the quarterly literary travel magazine Stranger’s Guide, and an editor for McSweeney’s Publishing. His new book Literary Journeys: Mapping Fictional Travels Across the World of Literature was released in September. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and Literary Hub. He served as the books editor of the San Francisco Chronicle for a decade. A native of Boston, he lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.