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WHEN IN DAKAR, SENEGAL TO VISIT THE MUSEUM OF BLACK CIVILIZATION, ALSO CHECK OUT A BLACK-OWNED BOOK STORE CALLED CHEZ ALPHA BOOKS
Nationwide -- Tourists planning to visit the new Museum of Black Civilization in Dakar, Senegal should also take a moment to check out Chez Alpha Books, an English bookstore committed to writers from The Diaspora, fiction /non-fiction stories related to the history, and experiences of people from The Diaspora along with other world literature.
Chez Alpha Books is an African-American/Senegalese venture led by Angela Franklin-Faye, a native of Cincinnati, Ohio living in Dakar. Historically Senegal is a Francophone country, yet several years ago Franklin started selling books in English. She comments, "It was never about one language having priority over another.
At that time, there was a growing interest in English, and we wanted to be able to provide a diverse range of fiction and non-fiction books to that audience as all the bookstores in Dakar were selling books in French. Also, the diverse and empowering stories we wanted to share were more easily accessible in English. At present, Chez Alpha Books is adding more titles in Wolof, French, Arabic and other languages that reflect the stories and images we want to share with our reading community."
