Mariama Bâ

Life & Legacy

Mariama Bâ (April 17, 1929 – August 17, 1981) was a Senegalese author and feminist. Her two French-language novels have been translated into more than a dozen languages each. Born in Dakar, Senegal, she was raised a Muslim.
Her frustration with the fate of African women is expressed in her first novel, Une si longue lettre (1979; translated into English as So Long a Letter). In this semi-autobiographical epistolary work, Bâ depicts the sorrow and resignation of a widow who must share the work of mourning with her late husband's second, younger wife. The novel was awarded the first Noma Award for Publishing in Africa in 1980.