Mariama BARRY An author from Guinea and Senegal writing in French [Return to French — Page originale en français]

Originally from Guinea, Mariama Barry was born in Dakar. Her childhood in the Senegalese capital was a difficult one, she says. Not only did she suffer the traumatic experience of female circumcision, but the divorce of her mother put her in charge of the family at an early age because she was the eldest daughter of a family of seven children. Thus school books had to be abandoned in deference to domestic chores. It was only later, once Mariama Barry moved to France, that she could resume her studies and eventually read Law. Her semi-autobiographical novel La petite Peule [The little Peul girl] tells of her experience and denounces the wrongful application of tradition : adult ego, female circumcision, lack of schooling opportunity for girls or their premature withdrawal from school. Mariama Barry lives and works in Paris (2004)

La Petite Peule. [The Young Peul Girl] Paris: Mazarine, 2000. (270p.). ISBN: 2-863-74322-8. Autobiographical novel.

Le cœur n'est pas un genou que l'on plie. Paris: Gallimard, Continents noirs, 2007. (202p.). ISBN: 978-2-07-078396-0. Novel.

Editor ([email protected])
The University of Western Australia/French
Created: 6 July 2000
Modified: 1 June 2007
Archived: 20 December 2012
https://aflit.arts.uwa.edu.au/BarryMariamaeng.html