Pagine1929–1981 · Dakar, Senegal · also known as Mariama Ba
Mariama Bâ was a Senegalese teacher and campaigner for women’s rights. Her short novel So Long a Letter (Une si longue lettre, 1979) — a widow’s long letter to her best friend after her husband takes a second wife — won the first Noma Award for Publishing in Africa and is one of the most widely taught African books. She died of cancer before her second novel, Scarlet Song, was published.
Begin with So Long a Letter.
Part of our African Literature reading list — print it, email it to yourself or share it.
Olaudah Equiano · Sol Plaatje · Chinua Achebe · Wole Soyinka · Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o · Naguib Mahfouz · Nadine Gordimer · J. M. Coetzee · Bessie Head · Tsitsi Dangarembga · Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Mariama Bâ was a Senegalese teacher and campaigner for women’s rights. Her short novel So Long a Letter (Une si longue lettre, 1979) — a widow’s long letter to her best friend after her husband takes a second wife — won the first Noma Award for Publishing in Africa and is one of the most widely taught African books.
So Long a Letter is usually considered Mariama Bâ’s best-known work, followed by Scarlet Song.
Most readers start with So Long a Letter.
Both refer to the same writer.
Mariama Bâ’s books are still under copyright, so they are not free to download, but many can be borrowed free from your public library or Open Library — we link to them below.