Kalista Sy (born about 1985) is a

Senegalese Demographic features of the population of Senegal include population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population. About 42% of Senegal's population i ...

screenwriter known for writing and producing the TV series ' (''Maîtresse d'un homme marié'', 2019–present). The series is set in

Dakar Dakar ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Senegal, largest city of Senegal. The Departments of Senegal, department of Dakar has a population of 1,278,469, and the population of the Dakar metropolitan area was at 4.0 mill ...

and premiered on Marodi TV Sénégal in January 2019. In January 2019 the first episode of ''Mistress of a Married Man'' aired on Marodi TV Sénégal and went viral in Africa on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

. Sy's show focuses on the lives of everyday Senegalese women. The show's storylines, including sex, infidelity, domestic abuse, and polygamy, which are not usually covered in Senegalese media, have resulted in controversy. The series' frank discussion of female

sexual freedom A sexual norm can refer to a personal or a social norm. Most cultures have social norms regarding sexuality, and define '' normal sexuality'' to consist only of certain sex acts between individuals who meet specific age criteria, nonconsangui ...

led to Islamic clerics calling for it to be banned. Professor Marame Gueye wrote of Sy that, "Her female cast does not practice the widely accepted skin bleaching prominently featured in earlier series as the standard of beauty for Senegalese women. More importantly, the series puts women’s experiences at the center of its storyline. Marème and her cohort are ambitious women with jobs and their lives do not center exclusively on their relationships with men." In 2019, she was listed among the BBC's 100 Women. Sy is listed as a contributor to ''The Women Writers Handbook'' (2020).Aurora Metro Books. Retrieved 4 June 2025.
/ref> Sy lives in

, Sengal and is married to Medoune Diop, a computer scientist. She is a former television journalist.

References

Senegalese women writers Senegalese screenwriters Wolof-language writers 1980s births Living people {{Senegal-bio-stub