Winner of the 2006 award for the Best First Album at Angoulême, sold more than 800,000 copies, been translated into 15 languages and adapted into an animated film…After a twelve-year absence, « Aya of Yop City,” the successful comic series is back with a new volume. What is the secret of the editorial success of this soap opera in the Ivorian style?
By M.A.
Lire la suite : Culture: « Aya of Yop City,” an African success storyAya continues her studies and tries to take her love life in hand. Bintou is a TV star under a lot of pressure. Innocent celebrates the victory of François Mitterrand in Paris and participates in the struggle for the rights of immigrants. Gregoire and Moussa continue their adventures together… Aya and her friends are back in a new opus, full of humor and emotion. The recipe that made the series successful.
What if the secret of the writer Marguerite Abouet herself born in Yop City? The authenticity of the Ivorian universe? Undoubtedly behind the success of the first six volumes, the style has also attracted film and television producers. Inviting Marguerite Abouet to launch into the script of the film « Aya of Yop City » which was nominated for a César in 2014, before creating the television series « C’est la vie! » broadcast on A+ and TV5 Monde /Africa and on about forty African national channels. It is this rich television experience, which explains the return to comics… Twelve years later.
« I like to portray Ivorians and their madness with humanity and humor. This is because humor is really part of the life of Ivorians”
« When I heard Marguerite tell me hilarious anecdotes about the shooting of her series in Côte d’Ivoire, I thought it could be interesting to put them on stage, » recalls the illustrator, and lifelong partner, Clément Oubrerie. « Working in the audiovisual industry was exhausting, because in this environment, you are constantly dealing with people who suggest you modify such and such a scene, change such and such a dialogue… This pressure challenges your ability to write. Finding Aya also helped me to prove to myself that I knew and could write ALONE » admits the writer.
Brought to the big screen, « Aya de Yopougon » was nominated for a Cesar in 2014@RR
One of the social themes addressed in the series is precisely the place that TV series take in the lives of Ivorians. To the extent that some actresses, mistaken for their roles of women who seduce married men for example, are assaulted in the street. « In general, I prefer to take a distance (…), not necessarily take public stands. But writing fiction helps me to alert to certain problems. For example, the harassment and the sexual violence of university professors on their female students », or still autism, homophobia…
A series depicting an authentic Africa, far from stereotypes
All this with a lot of finesse and lightness. For the comic is above all a comedy. « Aya is a funny, lively, moving and benevolent backdrop. I like to portray the Ivorians and their madness with humanity and humor. This is because humor is really part of the life of Ivorians.”
However, the success, both immediate and unexpected, of this soap opera in the Ivorian style goes far beyond the borders. Translated into 15 languages, sold 800,000 copies, winning the 2006 award for the Best First Album at Angoulême in 2006, adapted into a feature-length animated film in 2013… The series, which depicts an authentic Africa, far from stereotypes, reflects a trend among readers in French-speaking Africa and the diaspora: a thirst for African-made content.
With the publishing sector booming on the continent, sales of French-language books published in the region were estimated at more than 120 million euros, that is more than 2% of the world’s French-language book market, the publishing houses operating in the sector are « Africanizing, » as local players are emerging. Giving more and more to read, and to see, an Africa that tells itself.
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