“En Clave Afro: Tomamos la Palabra”, a book in Spanish that gives voice to young women writers from Ivory Coast, Benin and Togo
The volume brings together 65 texts written in Spanish by African women university students addressing themes such as polygamy, gender violence, motherhood and mental health. It is now available as a free PDF download on our website.
Madrid, September 15th, 2026 — The Women for Africa Foundation announces the publication of En Clave Afro: Tomamos la Palabra, a book that compiles texts written by university women students of Spanish as part of the literature and creative writing workshops of the En Clave Afro project.
The work brings together 65 stories by young women from Ivory Coast, Benin and Togo who, through the Spanish language, address current issues from women’s points of view: love, work, dreams — but also harsher realities such as polygamy, arranged marriages, the weight of tradition, mistreatment, and the silence that often surrounds them. The texts also touch on family, childhood, beauty, motherhood and mental health.
The cover illustration is the work of Ivorian artist Armand Samuel Kouamé, created from a digitized fabric by Ahoé Créations, a Togolese brand, in a gesture that links literary creation with the continent’s textile and visual arts.
A safe space for self-narration
In the book’s prologue, the Foundation’s president, María Teresa Fernández de la Vega, highlights the value of these young voices: she describes the privilege of hearing many young voices arriving from different corners of the African continent, voices that write in Spanish with a strength and honesty that deeply move the reader, young writers who have found in the Spanish language a bridge to tell stories that remained silenced for too long.
The president closes her prologue with a commitment to continuity, pledging that the Women for Africa Foundation will keep supporting these writers, because every story told breaks the silence a little more, and when women write their own story, the world begins to change.
For her part, Antonina Cupe, the project coordinator, explains in the epilogue the origin of the workshop: what readers have just read is the fruit of a workshop committed to creating a safe space for reflection, critical reading and literary creation with a gender perspective, where Spanish stops being a subject and becomes a tool these young women have made their own to tell their stories. Before writing their own stories, the participants spent hours discussing excerpts from works by African and Afro-descendant women writing in Spanish. This is an example of the clear commitment to giving visibility to voices from the continent and its diaspora. The coordinator also highlights the fidelity to the original texts, which underwent only minimal editing in order to preserve each author’s voice.
This project would not have been possible without the support of the Cabildo de Gran Canaria and the Alassane Ouattara University of Bouaké, Félix Houphouët-Boigny University, the University of Abomey-Calavi, and the University of Lomé, which opened their doors and welcomed this initiative with enthusiasm.
For these workshops, we collaborated with local women Hispanists in each country where they took place, all of them having completed part of their studies thanks to the “Learn Africa” scholarship program. For the Foundation, this collaboration is highly significant, as it reflects the organization’s impact and track record in promoting the leadership of women across the continent.
Our deepest thanks to Drs. Zinié Ella Diomandé and Karidjatou Diallo Koné, and to professors Prisca Sètongnon M. Legba and Edmée Judith Sagnon.
About the project
En Clave Afro is a space for reflection, critical reading and literary creation aimed at African women students of Spanish.
An essential part of the project is the donation of a selection of works written in Spanish by African and Afro-descendant women authors, with particular attention to writers from Latin America and the Caribbean. This carefully curated collection allows students to discover the richness of Afro literature in Spanish from a gender perspective and through diverse, transnational voices that are deeply connected to one another.
The goal is clear: to put printed books into the hands of students and professors, expanding access to texts that rarely reach Spanish departments at African universities. The creation of this small feminist, Afro-centered library not only enriches learning but also opens new literary genealogies and offers students of Spanish close and powerful role models.
En Clave Afro: Tomamos la Palabra is available for free download in PDF format here: EN CLAVE AFRO Tomamos la palabra