« Fifteen years ago, I lived for a few months in Timbuktu, in Mali. I was welcomed by nomad hosts who introduced me to the sweetness of living in the shade of the Sahara’s first dunes. This was where I met Aïcha. Two years ago, I went back to look for my muse of the desert. In this region of the world, historic tensions had once again evolved into armed conflicts. Most of my friends fled the combats. They fled Timbuktu. They became refugees. »

Extract from Retour à Tombouctou, Gallimard Edition 2015.