ABSTRACT
Manama Bâ was born in Senegal in 1929. She was orphaned at an early age and was raised by her maternal grandparents. The only way she knew her mother was through a photograph. Her father was one of the first ministers of state in the newly independent Senegal. The fact that she went to school did not dispense her from performing traditional tasks at home, especially since one did not know what the future might bring. As a young high-school student at the École Normale in Rufisque, she wrote her first published work. This piece was published in France and focused on colonial education in Senegal. After she completed her schooling, she worked as an elementary-school teacher and later as regional school inspector. She did not publish another major work until So Long a Letter, a book that won the Noma Award for Literature. This was followed by Scarlet Song, which was published posthumously. Her friends attribute the long hiatus in her literary production to marriage and motherhood. The fact that she was not writing did not mean that she was inert, as she was active in the women’s movement in Senegal, promoting education and raising nine children.
