Birago Diop

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Birago Ishmael Diop (Ouakam, Senegal; December 11, 1906 - Dakar, Senegal; November 25, 1989) was a Senegalese poet and storyteller, active writer in the Négritude movement in the 1930s, as well as a veterinarian and diplomat.

[edit] Biography

He was born in Ouakam, a small village near Dakar. In 1920 he went to study at Lycée Faidherbe in Saint-Louis, and later on he went to study veterinary medicine at the University of Toulouse, and worked as a veterinary surgeon for the French colonial government in several West African countries. Throughout his civil service career, he collected and reworked Wolof folktales, and also wrote poetry, memoirs, and a play. He served as first Senegalese ambassador to Tunisia from 1960 to 1964.

[edit] Works

Narrative
- Tales of Amadou Koumba (Les contes d'Amadou Koumba, 1947, tr. 1966)
- New Tales of Amadou Koumba (Les nouveaux contes d'Amadou Koumba, 1958)
- Tales and Commentaries (Contes et Lavanes, 1963)
- Contes d'Awa (1977)
Poetry
- Lures and Glimmers (Leurres et Lueurs, 1960)
Drama
- L'os de Mor Lam (1977)
Memoirs
- La Plume raboutée (1978)
- A rebrousse-temps (1982)
- A rebrousse-gens (1985)
- Du temps de... (1986)
- Et les yeux pour me dire (1989)