Mariama Bâ

Writer (1929 – 1981)

Family : Place of birth : Dakar ; Date of birth : 17 April 1929 ; Mother : Died when she was a child ; Father : Amadou Bâ, later Minister of Health

Education : She obtained her primary certificate at 14. In 1943 she came first in the entrance exam to the École normale de Rufisque, from which she graduated in 1947 to become a teacher.

Action : She published So Long a Letter (Une si longue lettre, 1979), an epistolary novel on the condition of women (polygamy, widowhood, wives’ rights). The book received the Noma Award in 1980 and has been translated into more than fifteen languages. Her second novel, Un chant écarlate, appeared in 1981. She taught for twelve years at the École Faidherbe in the Médina district of Dakar, then moved to the regional education inspectorate for health reasons. She was active in the Cercle Fémina, the Federation of Senegalese Women’s Associations and the Soroptimist Club.

Legacy : She died on 17 August 1981. Her work is on Senegalese school curricula, and a school on Gorée bears her name. She was posthumously awarded the Grand Prix littéraire d’Afrique noire (1982).

Sources

• Cairn — « La formation des institutrices africaines en A.O.F. : pour une lecture historique du roman de Mariama Bâ, Une si longue lettre » (Clio)
• Persée — « Écriture de soi et voix des autres. Sur Une si longue lettre de Mariama Bâ… »
• M. Bâ, Une si longue lettre (Google Books)
• Wikipédia — Mariama Bâ

Great voices of Senegalese literature — Birago Diop and Mariama Bâ