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Booker Prize nominee Chigozie Obioma on being an African writer today

In this edition we head to Morocco for the Marrakech African Book Festival (FLAM), a key gathering for writers, thinkers and novelists from across Africa and its diaspora. Our team sits down with Nigerian writer Chigozie Obioma, whose acclaimed works "The Fishermen" and "An Orchestra of Minorities" were both shortlisted for the Booker Prize. 

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French film show: 'The Silent Run' tells a tragic migrant story

We discuss the harrowing incident at the centre of Marta Bergman's poignant new film, as critic Manon Kerjean tells us why "The Silent Run" is a powerful, haunting take on the terrifying scenarios that many refugees face. We also review Alain Gomis's atmospheric journey through family rites and rituals in Guinea-Bissau in "Dao". Plus Laure Calamy and Vincent Macaigne negotiate belly laughs and bittersweet moments in "What is Love?" as a separated couple re-visiting their past on a trip to Rome.

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From translating Agatha Christie at 17 to redefining Nordic Noir: Ragnar Jónasson's rise

Before he became one of the leading voices of Nordic Noir, Ragnar Jónasson was a teenager who translated novels by Agatha Christie into Icelandic. That early immersion in the mechanics of crime fiction helped shape a writer now published in around 40 countries, with millions of copies sold worldwide and a particularly devoted readership in France.

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Casablanca Drivers break 'Protocol' with dance floor-ready album

In this edition of our arts24 music show, Jennifer Ben Brahim chats with Alexandre Diani and Nicolas Paoletti from Corsican indie electro band Casablanca Drivers. They are known for their sun-soaked riffs and electronic beats. Casablanca Drivers have just dropped their third album "Protocol", a record jam-packed with dance floor-ready beats and a bassline for both clubbers and punks. French Touch features prominently on the album, especially as they teamed up with legendary art director Alexandre Courtès, who has worked with the likes of Air, Cassius and Daft Punk. 

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Twenty years, one question: What does it mean to be Black and European?

For 20 years, British photographer Johny Pitts has been travelling around Europe with a camera and a question: what does it actually mean to be Black and European? His answer fills a room at the Maison Européenne de la Photographie in Paris. "Black Bricolage" brings together photographs, notebooks and documents from cities across the continent – Paris, Berlin, Lisbon, Marseille and Brussels – capturing the ordinary lives that rarely make the front page. 

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TV series show: Euphoria's 'euphoric' Season Three return

Zendaya, Sydney Sweeney and Jacob Elordi return for season three of Sam Levinson's troubled teen drama "Euphoria". The series has been lauded by fans but slammed by critics for its hypersexual, fetishist content. TV critic Dheepthika Laurent also reviews the second season of Netflix's rage drama "Beef". It stars Carey Mulligan and Oscar Isaac as a country club couple who get into a blackmail feud with a young couple. Plus: Eric Rochant, the creator of the French series "The Bureau", is back with a family crime drama called "Bandi". It's Netflix's first ever series set on the French Caribbean island of Martinique. Finally, Michelle Pfeiffer and Elle Fanning navigate the tricky ethics of OnlyFans in "Margo's Got Money Troubles".

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'Anatomy of a Cry': Crystal Murray on teen fame and going indie

French-American artist Crystal Murray rose to fame on social media, a decade before the term influencer was "a thing". She was already making alternative R'n'B and soul, which led her to get signed and release a first album in 2024. A couple of years ago, she moved to London to find her voice on her own terms and became an independent artist. She popped by arts24 to tell Marjorie Hache about her new EP "Anatomy of a Cry", which sees her already avant-garde style tinted with indie folk. They also discuss new releases by Massive Attack, the Foo Fighters and Fally Ipupa. 

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Paris Book Festival kicks off amid Grasset publishing controversy

The annual Paris Book Festival is honouring Iceland this year, and Icelandic author Jón Kalman Stefánsson will be doing a book signing. He tells us about his latest novel, "Celestial Bodies at the Edge of the World", which sheds light on a little-known dark chapter in Icelandic history. He also tells us why Icelandic literature is booming in France.

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Author Ece Temelkuran finds solidarity in her 'Nation of Strangers'

Exiles, migrants, refugees: there are as many ways to label "strangers" as there are to misunderstand them and reduce their identity to their outsider status. Ece Temelkuran explores this existential and very physical reality in her new book "Nation of Strangers", as the Turkish author and journalist reflects upon what it means to lose one's home morally, spiritually and politically.

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