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Yurieth Romero and Gilbert Shang Ndi in conversation with Paula Moreno Zapata

Manos Visibles event: our own references. Africa-Latin America

Cartagena 2025, 

Two Afro-descendant writers, Yurieth Romero from Santa Marta and Gilbert Shang Ndi from Cameroon, will engage in a conversation with Paula Moreno Zapata, author of Soñar lo Imposible and El Poder de lo Invisible, about the essential integration of literature produced by Black people into contemporary literary canons. Yurieth Romero is the first Black writer from the Caribbean to publish a book, Las Visitantes, under the Alfaguara imprint of Penguin Random House. On the other hand, Gilbert Shang Ndi is a prominent author and Ph.D. in Comparative Literature, recognized for his research on topics such as African dictatorship novels, the poetics of the body, violence in literature, visual culture, and cyber literature. In this conversation, both writers will share their work and personal perspectives, and discuss how the invisibility of Afro-descendant authors in Latin America contributes to one of the deepest roots of inequality in the region. Additionally, they will explore how the African continent has emerged in the past decade as a literary powerhouse in the global arena.

Yurieth Romero and Gilbert Shang Ndi in conversation with Paula Moreno Zapata