Mariama Bâ was a Senegalese francophone author, teacher, and feminist who was born in Dakar to a well-off Muslim family. She criticized gender inequality in African society from a young age, while being raised in a very traditional household and having to fight to gain an education. As she grew older, she became involved in women's organizations and advocated for social change in Africa as well as women's education. She married but then divorced a member of the Senegalese parliament, caring for their nine children as a result. This tumultuous life and struggle with tradition are well represented in So Long A Letter (1979), her first novel, which won the Noma Award for Publishing in...
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