The evening of the Diaspocam prize awards had its moment of apotheosis when the name of Sandrine Fansi, winner of the Best Writer of the Diaspora Prize 2024, rang out. A consecration, a vibrant tribute to the talent and tenacity of a woman whose journey is written in the ink of resilience.
Of Cameroonian origin, today godmother of the French Republic, Sandrine is one of those souls who defy the tumults of life to establish themselves in the den. She arrives in France, one day of a shattered dream, in cruel conditions. Barely had she set foot on the soil of the country she so desired when an immediate return was imposed on her, a return with a bitter taste.
On this return flight, tears flow like a torrent. She finds herself praying senseless prayers, between despair and rebellion, imagining a tragic outcome of a plane crash where she alone would leave, leaving behind a scene worthy of the greatest contemporary fictions. But nothing happens, and it is in this humiliating return that his most beautiful revenges will germinate: that of the return, that of the pen. A few years later, the misadventure would become a title: “Sandrine the Resilient, from undocumented to godmother of the republic”. Starting from scratch, Sandrine faces the vicissitudes of life without papers.
She takes on odd jobs, endures the shadow of precariousness, but always moves forward. Then comes deliverance: papers, a marriage, and as one might expect the upheavals of married life and here she is involved in a liberating divorce. With her often biting humor, she likes to say: “Divorce saved me.” Sandrine the cashier becomes a bank executive, Sandrine the broken woman becomes a fulfilled mother. From a married woman on the edge of the precipice to a “single mom” more radiant than ever, she is the mark of this quiet strength that defies the storms. An incredible, poignant, human story.
Today, Sandrine Fansi, now an established novelist, is paving her way with a committed pen. Through her writings, she lends her voice to those who have long been silenced. It addresses themes that are often taboo in our societies: sexuality, suicide, abortion, prostitution. She fights against machismo not through confrontation, but through the raw truth, that of words that strike, awaken and liberate. Her book becomes the voice of women, a cry of hope and dignity. But Sandrine doesn’t stop there. She runs discussion spaces where she encourages women to take back ownership of their destiny.
She becomes a coach, a confidante, a scout. She believes in the power of words, those that rebuild and repair. And here in the same weekend, less than twenty hours after her distinction at the Diaspocam Prize, Sandrine, she received another distinction, where she received a standing ovation in front of an audience of more than 800 personalities at the prestigious Maison de la Chimie in Paris; which proves that writing is indeed his favorite field. She is now one of the most brilliant and unique writers of the new generation of Cameroonian writers. For Sandrine, writing is a gentle obsession, a visceral need.
Writing pursues her, itches her, every day, like a breath that refuses to be silent. A woman of a thousand lives, she slips into her characters, puts on their skins, explores their torments and their joys. She is all women and yet she is only one: resilient Sandrine. An explorer of the human soul, a storyteller of disturbing realities, a captain who now leads his own quest for horizons. For tomorrow, she promises to write again and again, but also to open spaces where the words of young people rise, assert themselves, and become part of history. Because, for Sandrine Fansi, resilience is not an end, but the beginning of all possibilities.
