Mariama's Fans (9)

Mariama Bâ

Author profile

born

January 01, 1929 in Dakar, Senegal

died

January 01, 1981

gender

female

genre

Literature & Fiction

About this author

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Mariama Bâ (1929 – 1981) was a Senegalese author and feminist, who wrote in French. Born in Dakar, she was raised a Muslim, but at an early age came to criticise what she perceived as inequalities between the sexes resulting from [African] traditions. Raised by her traditional grandparents, she had to struggle even to gain an education, because they did not believe that girls should be taught. Bâ later married a Senegalese member of Parliament, Obèye Diop, but divorced him and was left to care for their nine children.
Her frustration with the fate of African women—as well as her ultimate acceptance of it—is expressed in her first novel, So Long a Letter. In it she depicts the sorrow and resignation of a woman who must share the mourning for...more

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Books by Mariama Bâ

Average rating: 3.72 · 1,202 ratings · 122 reviews · 2 distinct works

	So Long a Letter by Mariama Bâ, Modupe-Bode-Thomas (Translator) 3.72 avg rating — 1,208 ratings — published 1979 — 15 editions	My rating:
	Scarlet Song 3.72 avg rating — 102 ratings — published 1981 — 4 editions	My rating:

* Note: these are all the books on Goodreads for this author. To add more, click here.

Quotes by Mariama Bâ

“Friendship has splendors that love knows not. It grows stronger when crossed, whereas obstacles kill love. Friendship resists time, which wearies and severs couples. It has heights unknown to love.”
― Mariama Bâ, So Long a Letter

tags: friendship , love

26 people liked it

“The flavour of life is love. The salt of life is also love.”
― Mariama Bâ, So Long a Letter

tags: life , love

14 people liked it

“And also, one is a mother in order to understand the inexplicable. One is a mother to lighten the darkness. One is a mother to shield when lightning streaks the night, when thunder shakes the earth, when mud bogs one down. One is a mother in order to love without beginning or end. ”
― Mariama Bâ, So Long a Letter

tags: love , mother

7 people liked it

See all Mariama Bâ's quotes »

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