So Long a Letter
About the book
A widow's letter to a friend explores marriage, friendship and polygamy in Senegal.
Original title: Une si longue lettre
Africa · A READING GUIDE
Senegal
Ousmane Sembène depicts labour resistance, bureaucracy and the failures of new elites. Mariama Bâ, Ken Bugul and Aminata Sow Fall offer different accounts of women, exclusion and social dependence. Mohamed Mbougar Sarr turns the search for a vanished writer into an inquiry into memory and literary inheritance. Boubacar Boris Diop’s Murambi looks beyond Senegal to testimony about Rwanda’s genocide.
WHERE TO START
- So Long a LetterMariama Bâ
- God’s Bits of WoodOusmane Sembène
- Murambi, The Book of BonesBoubacar Boris Diop
Books to begin with
An editorial selection · not rankedNo matches. Try another language or search term.
God’s Bits of Wood
About the book
A 1947 railway strike reveals collective resistance and women’s growing role in colonial West Africa.
Original title: Les Bouts de bois de Dieu
Xala
About the book
A wealthy businessman’s impotence becomes a satire of corruption and postcolonial elite privilege.
The Money-Order with White Genesis
About the book
A money order from abroad entangles an unemployed Dakar resident in a bureaucratic maze.
Original title: Le Mandat, précédé de Véhi-Ciosane
Murambi, The Book of Bones
About the book
This polyphonic novel about the Rwandan genocide examines memory, testimony and responsibility.
Original title: Murambi, le livre des ossements
The Most Secret Memory of Men
About the book
A young Senegalese writer traces the fate of the vanished author of a controversial masterpiece.
Original title: La plus secrète mémoire des hommes
The Abandoned Baobab
About the book
An autobiographical journey from Senegal to Belgium explores alienation and colonial education.
Original title: Le Baobab fou
The Beggars’ Strike
About the book
A beggars’ strike exposes urban elites’ dependence on the people they want removed from the streets.
Original title: La Grève des bàttu
Scarlet Song
About the book
A Senegalese man and a French woman’s love faces family pressure, custom and inequality.
Ambiguous Adventure
About the book
Samba Diallo moves from Quranic schooling to Parisian philosophy, questioning his sense of belonging.
Context and sources
Sources on authors and their connections to this country. Specific edition details appear beside each book. Polish and English originals are not labelled as translations.
- Autor i kontekst literacki / Author and literary context ↗
- Ousmane Sembène — Apollo ↗
- Ousmane Sembène — Chicago Review Press ↗
- Ousmane Sembène — Heinemann ↗
- Boubacar Boris Diop — Indiana University Press ↗
- Mohamed Mbougar Sarr — Other Press ↗
- Ken Bugul — University of Virginia Press ↗
- Aminata Sow Fall — Longman ↗
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