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".[1]
Life
She was born in Saint-Louis, Senegal,[2] where she grew up before moving to Dakar to finish her secondary schooling.[3] After this, she earned a degree in Modern Languages at the Sorbonne[4] in Paris, France and became a teacher upon returning to Senegal.[5]
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).[5] She was the Director of the Literature Section of the Ministry of Culture and also became the Director of the Centre d'Etudes des Civilations, a center that researches Senegal's culture and oral literature. Her works are often concerned with social issues, such as poverty and corruption, and with her experience in both Paris and Senegal, she explores the many of traditions and cultures within both of these societies.
She was appointed the first woman president of Senegal's Writer's Association in 1985.
Two years later, in 1987, she founded the 'Centre Africain d'Animation et d'Echanges Culturels', an organisation that promotes young writers through literature festivals, seminars, and competitions, publishing them in the affiliated publishing house Éditions Khoudia, which she founded in 1990.
She is a member of the Ordre de Mérite.
Senegal's Directorate of Books and Reading named their 'Aminata Sow Fall Prize for Creativity' after her, a manuscript prize which they set up in conjunction with the International Book Fair to support young literary creators.
She played the part of Aunt Oumy in Djibril Diop Mambéty's classic 1973 road movie Touki Bouki.[6]
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.
Bobia, Rosa; Staunton, Cheryl (1991). "Aminata Sow Fall and the Centre Africain d'Animation et d'Echanges Culturels in Senegal". The Journal of Modern African Studies. 29 (3): 529–532. doi:10.1017/S0022278X00000653. JSTOR160887. S2CID251050061.
Anna-Leena Toivanen, 'Failing cosmopolitanism: aborted transnational journeys in novels by Monique Ilboudo, Sefi Atta and Aminata Sow Fall', Journal of postcolonial writing, 2016.
Guèye, Médoune, 'Criticism, Écriture, and Orality in the African Novel: Oral Discourse in Aminata Sow Fall's Work', Research in African literatures, 2014. ProQuest1535271923
Dieng, Mamadou, 'Kinship and Friendship in Hardship: A Comparative Analysis of Aminata Sow Fall's Le Revenant and John Francis Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby', The Jounrnal of Pan African studies, 2016. ProQuest1813110318
Block, Marcelline (2008). "Emerging Perspectives on Aminata Sow Fall: The Real and the Imaginary in Her Novels ed. By Ada Uzoamaka Azodo". Women in French Studies. 16: 139–140. doi:10.1353/wfs.2008.0016. S2CID192541407.
Mortimer, Mildred (2007). "Domestic matters: Representations of home in the writings of Mariama B, Calixthe Beyala and Aminata Sow Fall". International Journal of Francophone Studies. 10: 67–83. doi:10.1386/ijfs.10.1and2.67_1.
