Reading Wilfried N'Sondé "The woman of the sky and the storms" June 9, 2023
Poster on the occasion of the reading and discussion of “Frau des Himmels und der Stürme" (Woman of the Sky and the Storms) with Wilfried N’Sondé on June 9, 2023, at the Institut français Dresden.
Num, a shaman from the nomadic Nenets people, discovers the magnificent, more than 10,000-year-old tomb of a Black woman in Russia’s thawing permafrost. Was she a queen? Our common ancestor? Do the Siberian peoples of the Yamal Peninsula perhaps have ancestors from Africa? At the same time, huge natural gas deposits are discovered in the same region, the extraction of which threatens to destroy the delicate ecological balance of the Arctic tundra. Encouraged by his meditative dialogue with the “African woman of the Arctic,” the shaman seeks support from a French scientist friend, who quickly assembles a research team.
Together with a German-Japanese forensic pathologist and an anthropologist of Congolese descent searching for meaning, he sets out on a secret expedition to the Yamal Peninsula. The sensational discovery in the tomb could halt the exploitation of the natural gas reserves and save nature from destruction. But the expedition team faces powerful and ruthless opponents: the Russian mafia, along with its henchmen and sycophants. Even the shaman’s nephew is blinded by the promise of quick money—until the showdown under the midnight sun.
Wilfried N’Sondé has written a highly suspenseful and multi-layered environmental thriller. And at the same time, a modern fairy tale in which some use hand grenades and dynamite, while others rely on love, meditation, and spirituality. This book is published as part of the Institute Français’s funding program and was supported by the Centre national du livre (CNL) and the German Translators’ Fund.
The best-selling novel *Woman of the Sky and the Storms* (originally published in French as *Femme du ciel et des tempêtes*, Actes Sud 2021), is a richly evocative text of burning relevance, dedicated to the harmony between humans and nature, the bonds between peoples, and the exchange between the visible and invisible worlds.
Wilfried N’Sondé was born in 1968 in Brazzaville (Congo). He grew up in the Paris metropolitan area, studied political science at the Sorbonne, and lived in Berlin for 25 years as an author, musician, and composer.
He is the author of six novels published by Actes Sud, including *Le Coeur des enfants léopards* (2007, winner of the Prix des Cinq Continents de la francophonie and the Prix Senghor de la création littéraire), *Un océan, deux mers, trois continents* (2018), which has been honored with a dozen literary awards—including the Prix Ahmadou Kourouma, the Prix France Bleu / Page des libraires, and the Prix des lecteurs de L’Express / BFMTV—and *Femme du ciel et des tempêtes* (2021).
In his stories, Wilfried N’Sondé explores historical adventures, the experience of exile and otherness, and our relationship to the visible and invisible worlds. Among other works, he has written the texts for the photo books *Homo détritus* by Stéphan Gladieu (Actes Sud, 2022) and *Borders* by Jean-Michel André (Actes Sud, 2020), which were exhibited at the Rencontres d’Arles photography festival in 2021 and at the Museum Fünf Kontinente in 2023.
Moderator: Torsten König
German voice: Dagmar Hunold
Free admission
WHEN? June 9, 2023, 7:00 p.m.
WHERE? Institute français Dresden, Kreuzstr. 6, 01067 Dresden
Photo 1 on the occasion of the reading and discussion of “Frau des Himmels und der Stürme" (Woman of the Sky and the Storms) with Wilfried N’Sondé on June 9, 2023, at the Institut français Dresden. © CFF
Photo 3 on the occasion of the reading and discussion of “Frau des Himmels und der Stürme" (Woman of the Sky and the Storms) with Wilfried N’Sondé on June 9, 2023, at the Institut français Dresden. © CFF
Photo 7 on the occasion of the reading and discussion of “Frau des Himmels und der Stürme" (Woman of the Sky and the Storms) with Wilfried N’Sondé on June 9, 2023, at the Institut français Dresden. © CFF
Photo 9 on the occasion of the reading and discussion of “Frau des Himmels und der Stürme" (Woman of the Sky and the Storms) with Wilfried N’Sondé on June 9, 2023, at the Institut français Dresden. © CFF
Photo 13 on the occasion of the reading and discussion of “Frau des Himmels und der Stürme" (Woman of the Sky and the Storms) with Wilfried N’Sondé on June 9, 2023, at the Institut français Dresden. © CFF
Photo 15 on the occasion of the reading and discussion of “Frau des Himmels und der Stürme" (Woman of the Sky and the Storms) with Wilfried N’Sondé on June 9, 2023, at the Institut français Dresden. © CFF
Photo 17 on the occasion of the reading and discussion of “Frau des Himmels und der Stürme" (Woman of the Sky and the Storms) with Wilfried N’Sondé on June 9, 2023, at the Institut français Dresden. © CFF
Photo 21 on the occasion of the reading and discussion of “Frau des Himmels und der Stürme" (Woman of the Sky and the Storms) with Wilfried N’Sondé on June 9, 2023, at the Institut français Dresden. © CFF
