Aminata Sow Fall (born 27 April 1941) is a Senegalese-born author. While her native language is Wolof, her books are written in French. She is considered "the first published woman novelist from francophone Black Africa". Life She was born in Saint-Louis, Senegal, where she grew up before moving to Dakar to finish her secondary schooling. After this, she did a degree in Modern Languages in France and became a teacher upon returning to Senegal. She was a member of the Commission for Educational Reform responsible for the introduction of African literature into the French syllabus in Senegal, before becoming director of La Propriété littéraire (The Literary Property) in Dakar (1979–88). She was appointed the first woman president of Senegal's Writer's Association in 1985. In 1990 she founded the publishing house Éditions Khoudia. She played the part of Aunt Oumy in Djibril Diop Mambéty's classic 1973 road movie Touki Bouki. Awards 1980 - Grand prix littéraire d'Afrique noire for La Grève des bàttu. 1982 - Prix International Alioune Diop for L'Appel des arènes. 1997 - honorary doctorate from Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, Massachusetts. Writing Her books include: Le Revenant, Nouvelles éditions africaines, 1976. . La Grève des bàttu (1979); Nouvelles éditions africaines, 1980; Serpent à plumes (paperback 2001), The Beggars' Strike, trans. Dorothy Blair, Longman (1986), L'Appel des arènes (The Call of the Arena) (1982); Nouvelles éditions africaines, 1993. . Ex-père de la nation: roman, Paris: L'Harmattan, 1987. . Douceurs du bercail, Nouvelles Editions ivoiriennes, 1998. . Le jujubier du patriarche: roman, Serpent à Plumes, 1998 Sur le flanc gauche du Belem. Arles: Actes Sud, 2002. . Un grain de vie et d'espérance. Paris: Françoise Truffaut Editions, 2002. . The film Battu (2000) by director Cheick Oumar Sissoko is based on her novel La Grève des bàttu. References Further reading Simon Gikandi, Encyclopedia of African Literature, Routledge (2002), pp. 518–9. Médoune Guèye, Aminata Sow Fall: Oralité et société dans l'oeuvre romanesque, Editions L'Harmattan (2005). "An Interview with Aminata Sow Fall". African Affairs (London) (1988) 87(348): 419–430. Ada Uzoamaka Azodo, Emerging Perspectives on Aminata Sow Fall: The Real and the Imaginary in her Novels, Africa World Press, 2007. . Irene Udousoro, "Aminata Sow Fall’s Works: A Compendium of Development-Oriented Issues", Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, Vol. 4, No. 6, July 2013. pp. 67–71. 1941 births Living people People from Saint-Louis, Senegal Senegalese writers in French Senegalese novelists Senegalese women novelists 20th-century