Ken BUGUL

Ken BUGUL
  • Africa
  • Western Africa
  • Senegal
French

Ken BUGUL (pen name of Mariètou Mbaye Biléoma) is the Senegalese-born writer whose pen name means “one who is unwanted.” Her first novel, Le baobab fou [The Abandoned Baobab: The Autobiography of a Senegalese Woman], investigated post-colonial identity for a young African woman in Belgium. Bugul has headed the African region section of the International Planned Parenthood Federation, as well as convening writing workshops in underprivileged areas, and organizing other cultural outreach. In 1999 her novel Riwan ou le chemin de sable ['Riwan or the Sandy Track'] was awarded the Grand Prix Littéraire de l'Afrique Noire. La pièce d'or (2006) is her seventh novel. She participates courtesy of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State.

Bibliography: 

Happening Now

  • In a recent Haaretz piece, Odeh Bisharat describes the efforts of the Arab-Jewish solidarity movement Standing Together to collect food for needy Gazans as well as build a long-term political coalition.

  • Among the upcoming titles at the lively regional CEEOL Press is 1945 and Other Stories., an English translation of Gábor Szántó’s Hungarian original.

  • An excerpt from Lidija Dimkovska’s most recent novel [Personal Identity Number] appears in the July 2024 issue of World Literature Today.

  • The Spring 2024 issue of the Michigan Quarterly Review features an excerpt from Amira-Géhanne Khalfallah’s new novel Onboard the Amsterdam or, the Last Voyage of Ibn Battûta,  surveying the burning topics of migrancy, radicalization, and exile. 
     

  • In an opinion piece for NYTimes, Veronica Raimo plumbs the (shallow) depths of Italian women’s media representation.

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