Library Weekly

On 11 december 1906, Senegalese poet and storyteller Birago Diop was born. Diop's work restored general interest in African folktales and promoted him to one of the most outstanding African francophone writers. A renowned veterinarian, diplomat and leading voice of the Négritude literary movement, Diop exemplified the "African renaissance man."

Although he was mostly recognized for his poems and folktales, Diop also worked as a veterinary surgeon for the French colonial government. Throughout his civil service career he collected and reworked Wolof folktales, and also wrote poetry, memoirs, and plays.

As soon as Senegal gained its independence, Diop was nominated as the first Senegalese ambassador in Tunisia. Upon accepting this position, he claimed to have "broken his pen," suggesting that he was ready to give up writing altogether and focus on his diplomatic career. It was not until the mid-1970s, towards the end of his life, that his "pen was mended." He published La plume raboutée in 1978, followed by À rebrousse-temps (1982), À rebrousse-gens (1982), and Senegal du temps de...(1986). Birago Diop died on 25 November 1989 in Dakar at the age of 82.

(Source: Wikipedia accessed on 24 november 2024)

Selected publications

Camara, Sana, La poésie sénégalaise d’expression française, 1945-1982 (Dakar, 2011).

Cuasante Fernández, Elena, en Inmaculada Díaz Narbona, Birago Diop et Léopold Sédar Senghor: cent ans après (Cádiz, 2006).

Diop, Birago, Anthologie (Paris 1964).

Diop, Birago, À rebrousse-gens : épissures entrelacs et reliefs (Paris,1985).

Diop, Birago, À rebrousse-temps (Paris, 1982).

Diop, Birago, La plume raboutée (Paris,1978).

Diop, Birago, Les contes d’Amadou Koumba (Paris,1947).

Diop, Birago, Sénégal, du temps de... (Paris,1987).

Kane, Mohamadou, en Birago Diop, Birago Diop : l’homme et l’œuvre (Paris 1971).

Tollerson, Marie Sherrod, Mythology and cosmology in the narratives of Bernard Dadié & Birago Diop: a structural approach (Washington,1984).

Films

Vieyra, Paulin Soumanou, Birago Diop: conteur (France, 2018).

Ayesha Harruna Attah over L'os De Mor Lam van Birago Diop