Antiracist, feminist and writer, Maryse Condé's legacy Trial of the Century #5 © Benoit Guillaume / Mucem

Anti-racist, feminist and writer Maryse Condé's legacy

Les Procès du siècle - Which way to the future?

  • Debate-
  • Meeting
Book

Access

J4 / Auditorium

Tarifs Cover Event

Free of charge

Bookings

free admission, subject to availability

Séances

On Monday, February 16, 2026 at 19h Book

Moderator: Rokhaya Diallo
With Alice Diop (director) and Felisa Vergara Reynolds (professor of French literature, University of Illinois)

With the participation of Caroline Chenu, in charge of research and collections at Mucem.

On the occasion of the anniversary of her birth and almost 2 years after her death, Les Procès du siècle revisits the figure of Maryse Condé, with whom the Mucem had the honor of building the event “Les amitiés de Maryse Condé” in November 2022.

In her works, the woman who discovered racism when she arrived in Paris to study, after growing up in Pointe-à-Pitre, has never ceased to tell of slavery, colonialism, migration, exile and racism, and to proclaim the freedom and strength of women to fight against domination. Like Tituba, the heroine of her famous novel Moi, Tituba, sorcière… noire de Salem, a young black woman born of the rape of her mother by an Englishman on a boat taking her to Barbados.

A committed and inspiring writer, how does her legacy live on through a new generation of artists and intellectuals?

After the meeting, appointment at the Bookshop table-shop from Mucem for a signing session.

Biographies

  • Rokhaya Diallo - journalist, author, director

    Rokhaya Diallo is an award-winning French journalist, author and film-maker. She is a columnist for the Washington Post and the Guardian, and a researcher at the Gender+Justice Initiative Research Center at Georgetown University (Washington). In France, she teaches cultural studies at Paris 1 – Sorbonne and is a columnist for television and radio. Rokhaya Diallo is the author of a dozen books and comic strips, and has made several documentaries. With Grace Ly, she also created “Kiffe Ta Race”, the first French-language podcast dedicated to racial issues and ranked as one of the best podcasts by Apple. In 2022, Rokhaya Diallo founded W.O.R.D., the first school dedicated to public speaking, with the aim of democratizing access to the public sphere. In March 2025, she published “Dictionnaire amoureux du féminisme” with Plon.

  • Alice Diop - Director

    After obtaining a Master’s degree in History at Panthéon-Sorbonne University and a DESS in visual sociology, Alice Diop has been directing creative documentaries and feature films at international festivals since 2005. In 2017, she won the César for Best Short Film for her film Vers la tendresse, as well as the Grand Prize at the Brive Medium Film Festival. That same year, she won the grand prize in the French competition at the Cinéma du réel festival for her feature-length documentary La Permanence; a festival where three years earlier she had won the Prix des bibliothèques for her film La Mort de Danton. Her film Nous, selected in the Enconters competition at the Berlinale 2021, won the Berlinale’s Best Documentary Awards, and the Grand Prize in the Enconters competition. His first feature film, Saint Omer, selected in official competition at the Venice Film Festival 2022, won the Silver Lion and the Golden Lion of the Future, and in 2023 the César for Best First Film and the César for Original Screenplay.

  • Felisa Vergara Reynolds - Professor of French literature

    Felisa Vergara Reynolds is Professor of French Literature at the University of Illinois. She specializes in twentieth- and twenty-first-century French literature, former French colonies and the French-speaking world, with a particular focus on French colonialism and post-colonialism.

Moderator: Rokhaya Diallo
With Alice Diop (director) and Felisa Vergara Reynolds (professor of French literature, University of Illinois)

With the participation of Caroline Chenu, in charge of research and collections at Mucem.

On the occasion of the anniversary of her birth and almost 2 years after her death, Les Procès du siècle revisits the figure of Maryse Condé, with whom the Mucem had the honor of building the event “Les amitiés de Maryse Condé” in November 2022.

In her works, the woman who discovered racism when she arrived in Paris to study, after growing up in Pointe-à-Pitre, has never ceased to tell of slavery, colonialism, migration, exile and racism, and to proclaim the freedom and strength of women to fight against domination. Like Tituba, the heroine of her famous novel Moi, Tituba, sorcière… noire de Salem, a young black woman born of the rape of her mother by an Englishman on a boat taking her to Barbados.

A committed and inspiring writer, how does her legacy live on through a new generation of artists and intellectuals?

After the meeting, appointment at the Bookshop table-shop from Mucem for a signing session.

Biographies

  • Rokhaya Diallo - journalist, author, director

    Rokhaya Diallo is an award-winning French journalist, author and film-maker. She is a columnist for the Washington Post and the Guardian, and a researcher at the Gender+Justice Initiative Research Center at Georgetown University (Washington). In France, she teaches cultural studies at Paris 1 – Sorbonne and is a columnist for television and radio. Rokhaya Diallo is the author of a dozen books and comic strips, and has made several documentaries. With Grace Ly, she also created “Kiffe Ta Race”, the first French-language podcast dedicated to racial issues and ranked as one of the best podcasts by Apple. In 2022, Rokhaya Diallo founded W.O.R.D., the first school dedicated to public speaking, with the aim of democratizing access to the public sphere. In March 2025, she published “Dictionnaire amoureux du féminisme” with Plon.

  • Alice Diop - Director

    After obtaining a Master’s degree in History at Panthéon-Sorbonne University and a DESS in visual sociology, Alice Diop has been directing creative documentaries and feature films at international festivals since 2005. In 2017, she won the César for Best Short Film for her film Vers la tendresse, as well as the Grand Prize at the Brive Medium Film Festival. That same year, she won the grand prize in the French competition at the Cinéma du réel festival for her feature-length documentary La Permanence; a festival where three years earlier she had won the Prix des bibliothèques for her film La Mort de Danton. Her film Nous, selected in the Enconters competition at the Berlinale 2021, won the Berlinale’s Best Documentary Awards, and the Grand Prize in the Enconters competition. His first feature film, Saint Omer, selected in official competition at the Venice Film Festival 2022, won the Silver Lion and the Golden Lion of the Future, and in 2023 the César for Best First Film and the César for Original Screenplay.

  • Felisa Vergara Reynolds - Professor of French literature

    Felisa Vergara Reynolds is Professor of French Literature at the University of Illinois. She specializes in twentieth- and twenty-first-century French literature, former French colonies and the French-speaking world, with a particular focus on French colonialism and post-colonialism.

Related activities or events

View full agenda

The trials of the century podcast

View all available podcasts (4)

Les journaux dessinés des Procès du siècle by Benoit Guillaume

View all available readings (9)

Related highlight

Agenda

Discover

Don't miss a single Mucem event!
Discover the full Mucem program: exhibitions, shows, screenings, meetings... there's something for everyone, all year round.

Practical info

Discover

Need practical information? Here you'll find everything you need to know to prepare for your visit to the Mucem.