Theworldinwolof

A Senegalese author aims to bring world literature to Wolof readers

When Boubacar Boris Diop authored the novel Doomi Golo (The Hidden Notebooks) in 2003, his first book written directly in Wolof - Senegal’s most widespread language, his Senegalese friends kept asking him tongue in cheek whether the French translation would be coming out soon.

That even his own Senegalese countrymen insisted so much, although half-jokingly, on having their language translated into French deeply annoyed Diop, 71 this year, who has been recognized as one of the major African writers and was recipient of the 2000 Black Africa Grand Literary Prize. “They spoke as if they wanted to bring me back to reason, or, to put it more bluntly, to the harsh realities of the market,” he said.

It was all the more ironic that his novel, a monologue of an old Senegalese man at the twilight of his life addressed to his young grandson living abroad, touched directly on issues of inheritance and Senegalese identity, subjects dear to this long-time defender of the Wolof language.

“[My novel] has had to learn to fly on its own, and it has faced the many, almost insurmountable and often fatal difficulties of the rare African-language novels in a hostile Francophone environment,” wrote Diop.

The book market in Senegal, a former French colony, is overwhelmingly dominated by the French language. Only a limited number of books are published in the Wolof language, in spite of it being the most common language in Senegal with a rich oral culture. But Diop has made his mission to change this.

Thus was born a project to allow the Wolof language to spread and shine both in Senegal and abroad. In March 2016, the writer, assisted by colleagues in France and Canada, established Céytu, the first international imprint dedicated entirely to Wolof. motives behind the imprint. “I have come to understand over time that the essential is not where a literary work goes, but where it comes from.”

According to him, Céytu aims at closing this gap by bringing world literature to Senegal through the Wolof language. The project is the fruit of an international cooperation with Diop spearheading the project in Senegal, helped by two of his close friends: Haitian writer Rodney Saint-éloi based in Canada, and publisher Laure Leroy in France.

The imprint’s first three Wolof books were published in 2016, comprising the translated works of the Senegalese Mariama Bâ, the French-mauritian