Амината Соу Фалл: Африка әдебиетінің алғашқы әйел жазушысы

Senegalese born author (born 1941)
the author

Aminata Sow Fall (born April 27, 1941) is a Senegalese born author. While her native language is Wolof, her books are written in French. She is considered "the first published woman novelist from francophone Black Africa".

She was born in Saint Louis, Senegal, where she grew up before moving to Dakar to finish her secondary schooling. After this, she earned a degree in Modern Languages at the Sorbonne in Paris, France and became a teacher upon returning to Senegal. She was a member of the Commission for Educational Reform responsible for the introduction of African literature into the French syllabus in Senegal, before becoming director of La Propriété littéraire (The Literary Property) in Dakar (1979–88). Growing up in an education system designed and run by the French, Sow Fall was only exposed to a few names from African literature growing up, since this was a system which prioritised Western names and titles. With this experience of living and being educated in both non Western Senegal and Western France, Sow Fall separated herself from other African writers, who, she expresses, often feel that they must situate themselves in relation to the West. She feels that African literature would gain from a sense of self discovery through writing, a common experience for Western authors, and from leaving behind the self consciousness with which she feels many African authors have historically carried into their literature.

1980 Grand prix littéraire d'Afrique noire for La Grève des bàttu. 1982 Prix International Alioune Diop for L'Appel des arènes. 1997 honorary doctorate from Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, Massachusetts.