“Senegal is the territory of women’s literature and reflection” August 11, 2026
Alain Mabanckou, Henri Gal Grand Prize for Literature from the French Academy which rewards all of his work, pays tribute to Senegal and its great literary figures.
GENEVA – Alain Mabanckou paid tribute to Senegal and its literature, in an exclusive interview, at the Société de Lecture de Genève, bastion of world literature, founded in 1818, in the pure traditions of the reading societies of the Age of Enlightenment. The Congolese writer came to present his latest novel, “Ramsès de Paris” (Le Seuil). For Professor Mabanckou, the great texts of African literature come from these great authors such as Senghor, Cheikh Hamidou Kane, up to new generations like his “little brothers”, notably Mohamed Mbougar Sarr.
“I have always appreciated, directly or indirectly, the fact that Senegal was at the forefront of women’s literature in the 1970s,” he says. In this decade 1970-1980, we have Mariama Bâ who made “Une si longue lettre”, before later “The strike of the bàttu” and “The jujubier of the patriarch” by Aminata Sow Fall, etc. “Senegal has taken literary feminism to a rare height,” underlines the author.
In this sense, many certainly do not do justice to this literature because, basically, women like Ken Bugul or other West African writers like Véronique Tadjo (Côte d’Ivoire), analyzes the author, if they write today, it is because there were the Aminata Sow Fall, the Mariama Bâ, etc.
Senegal is the territory of women’s literature but also the territory of reflection with “L’Aventure ambiguë” by Cheikh Hamidou Kane, poetry with Léopold Sédar Senghor and the greatest poems of Africa like “Souffles” in “Leurs et Lueurs (Présence Africaine, 1960) by Birago Diop and his “Comptes d’Ahmadou Kumba (1947). (Editor’s note: He recites “Souffles” from memory, a timeless poem!).
Asked about the words of the Congolese writer, Professor Ndiémé Sow of Ahmadou Mactar Mbow University underlines: “it is a moving message from a great professor who symbolizes Pan-African literature, who knows Senegalese literature perfectly, across the ages, sexes and genres.
“He has an excellent culture of Senegalese literature,” adds his colleague Professor Moustapha Mbengue of Ebad.
The Senegalese writer, Nafissatou Dia, rejoices: “It’s a beautiful tribute to our literature and our great authors.”
Which makes Professor Ibrahima Wane of Ucad say: “This is a very important testimony which recalls the historic leadership of Senegal on the cultural level”.
Only son, from the Voungou district, in Pointe-Noire (Congo-Brazzaville), Alain Mabanckou, the solitary child who spoke to himself, transformed, as he grew up, his monologues into a large global literary village which appeals beyond the French-speaking world. The professor-writer’s mother wanted her only child to be a lawyer or judge, convinced that this “would allow her to obtain a better place in the market where she is a peanut seller.”
Literature and poetry versus advocacy
The child complied and began studying law. At the age of 22, he obtained a scholarship and flew to Paris. “Her poetry notebooks under her arm”, loyalty to her mother’s wish was broken when she died, even though Alain was beginning the Certificate of Aptitude for the Legal Profession.
The fire of writing burned the child from Pointe Noire who, after a legal internship in the Suez-Lyonnaise des Eaux group, published his first novel, Bleu-Blanc-Rouge (1998). While the French team wins the Football World Cup, the Congolese is crowned Literary Grand Prix of Black Africa.
He quickly developed a love for poetry. He read poems and wrote them, particularly about his romantic conquests of the time. “He would sometimes write the same poem to three different people, but simply change the name each time.”
He had well understood that the poet was there to charm, according to lawyer Caroline Turrettini, by presenting Alain Mabanckou and his latest novel “Ramsès de Paris”, which follows the destiny of Berado, prince of Zamunda, who left the Congo to join his mentor, Benoît, another Congolese, in Paris! “A celebration of the universality of exile and the beauty of human feelings”.
A sort of autobiography of one of the greatest Congolese intellectuals of our time. It was his adoptive father, it is said, who introduced him to reading. The latter worked as a receptionist in a hotel in Pointe-Noire and European tourists often left behind them, when returning, their books which did not fit in their trunks, recalls Turrettini.
“His father would collect them and bring them home hoping to read them when he retired.” He was forbidden to go near it, but as soon as his father’s back was turned, Alain took the opportunity to plunge his nose into it.
Mabanckou said that he thought that books should be read in alphabetical order, and that if he could read Zola, he would have read all the books in the world.
Alain Mabanckou is 60 years old. He seems not to do them with his “dirty as ever” look and his thunderous laugh. This writer is “a monument of talent, intelligence, humor and wisdom. He carries within him the soul of Africa. He is a charismatic and flamboyant man: always well dressed without displaying ostentatious marks; he wears bright colors as much on him as in himself,” Emmanuel Tagnard, cultural director of the Société de Lecture, tells us.
Professor of French literature at the University of California/Los Angeles (UCLA) for 20 years, he is one of the great voices of French-speaking Africa in the United States. “He always seeks to explore and promote his own roots while being open and curious about other communities. His language is rich in originality and teachings,” continues Tagnard.
“Besides the different headgear he wears every day, he is definitely a man of many hats.”
Most of his novels are imbued with his mother tongue and African culture. He remains very committed to the perception we have of African literature. “He fights against this ghettoization, between French literature and French-speaking literature.”
In 2016, he was the first writer to join the chair of artistic creation at the Collège de France. He teaches Africa, its history and its literature there. Unpublished. Here again, it was a success, because the first course he gave there brought together more than 1,500 people.
His eight lessons were taken up and published in 2021 by Grasset editions under the title Eight lessons on Africa.
The United States is a corner from which Alain Mabanckou watches “the imprints of his wanderings”.
In 2022, he is embarking on a new project, the documentary. Screenwriter and actor, he lends his voice to the film “Noirs en France” which was the most viewed documentary that year (+7 million viewers on France2).
Alain Mabanckou is the author of more than fourteen novels including “Verre Cassé” (2005), “Mémoires de porc-épic” (Renaudot Prize in 2006), “Tomorrow I will be twenty years old” (George Brassens Prize in 2010), “Lumieres de Pointe-Noire”, and even “Petit Chili” in 2015 (finalist for the International Booker Prize).
