Aminata Sow Fall

Aminata Sow Fall is a Senegalese-born author. While her native language is Wolof, her books are written in French.

She was born 1941 in Saint-Louis, Senegal where she grew up before moving to Dakar to finish her secondary schooling. After this, she did a licence in 'Modern Languages' in France and became a teacher upon returning to Senegal. She then worked for the National Reform Commission for the Teaching of French before becoming director of la Propriété littéraire (The Literary Property) in Dakar (1979-1988).

In 1997, Aminata Sow Fall was awarded an honorary degree by Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, Massachusetts.

Writing

Her best known books include:
*"Le Revenant" (1976)
*"La Grève des bàttu" (1979) - Serpent à plumes (paperback 2001), ISBN 2842612507 - trans. Dorothy Blair, "The Beggars' Strike", Longman (1986), ISBN 0582002435
*"L'Appel des arènes" (The Call of the Arena) (1982)

The film "Battu" (2000) by director Cheick Oumar Sissoko is based on her novel "La Grève des bàttu".

Further reading

* Simon Gikandi, "Encyclopedia of African Literature", Routledge (2002), ISBN 0415230195 - pp.518-9
* Médoune Guèye, "Aminata Sow Fall: Oralité et société dans l'oeuvre romanesque", Editions L'Harmattan (2005), ISBN 2747585573 - in French