Multimedia Edizioni is proud to announce the publication of Tebrae (2026), the first Italian book by Malian writer, historian, philosopher, and poet Ismaël Diadié Haïdara—also known as Ismaël Qûti—one of the most significant contemporary custodians of African and Andalusian cultural memory.
Ismaël Diadié Haïdara is the last known descendant of Alí ben Ziyad Al-Quti, a citizen of Toledo who was expelled from the city in 1468 and later emigrated to Timbuktu. From this lineage of exile and transmission, Haïdara has forged an extraordinary intellectual and poetic journey that bridges Al-Andalus, the Sahara, and modern Africa. A polyglot scholar and a leading figure in the preservation of African manuscript heritage, he has also reached remarkable poetic heights through a body of work rooted in both ancestral forms and contemporary experience.
Central to Tebrae is Haïdara’s renewal of the tebría, an ancient poetic form traditionally composed of one or two brief lines. Historically considered a minor genre of southern Saharan literature, the tebría was often practiced by desert women as an intimate expression of love and emotion. Haïdara reclaims and enriches this form, expanding its expressive range while preserving its concision and lyrical intensity. Through this revitalization, the poet transforms a marginal genre into a powerful vehicle for reflection on exile, identity, loss, and hope.
Haïdara is also the founder and guardian of one of the most important private manuscript collections in Africa: the Fondo Kati Library, which preserves 12,714 ancient manuscripts of Andalusian heritage. This extraordinary archive stands as living evidence of Africa’s deep intellectual traditions and its historical connections to the Mediterranean world.
Following the Tuareg rebellion of 2012 and the occupation of Timbuktu by jihadist groups, Haïdara was forced into exile and currently lives in Spain. Marked by war, displacement, and the destruction of cultural memory, his experience has profoundly shaped his poetic voice. For Haïdara, poetry is not an aesthetic refuge alone, but a form of resistance—a means of defending freedom, dignity, and historical continuity.
His public readings are widely regarded as intense and moving experiences, bearing witness to the enduring power of art and culture to sustain the human spirit in times of violence and uncertainty. In Tebrae, poetry becomes both testimony and act of survival, affirming the resilience of words against erasure.
Book Details
Title: Tebrae
Author: Ismaël Diadié Haïdara
Publisher: Multimedia Edizioni
Year: 2026
Pages: 384
Price: €25.00
Translation and Editing: Rossella Nicolò and Giancarlo Cavallo
Introduction: Rossella Nicolò
Book DetailsWith Tebrae, Italian readers are invited to encounter a unique poetic universe where Saharan lyricism, Andalusian memory, and contemporary exile converge—confirming Ismaël Diadié Haïdara as a vital voice of global literature and a guardian of humanity’s shared cultural heritage.
