Ken Bugul 20100328 Salon du livre de Paris 2

Ken Bugul (born 1947) is the pen name of

Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...

ese

Francophone The Francophonie or Francophone world is the whole body of people and organisations around the world who use the French language regularly for private or public purposes. The term was coined by Onésime Reclus in 1880 and became important a ...

novelist Mariètou Mbaye Biléoma.'Bugul, Ken', in

Simon Gikandi Simon E. Gikandi (born 30 September 1960) is a Kenyan Literature Professor and Postcolonial scholar. He is the Class of 1943 University Professor of English and Chair, Department of English at Princeton University. He is perhaps best known for h ...

(ed.), ''Encyclopedia of African Literature''. Routledge; 2002. In the

Wolof language Wolof ( ; , ) is a Niger–Congo language spoken by the Wolof people in much of the West African subregion of Senegambia that is split between the countries of Senegal, The Gambia and Mauritania. Like the neighbouring languages Serer and Fula, ...

, her pen name means "one who is unwanted".Ken Bugel
University of Western Australia, Retrieved 30 April 2016

Background

Bugul was born 1947 in Ndoucoumane. She was raised in a

polygamous Polygamy (from Late Greek , "state of marriage to many spouses") is the practice of marrying multiple spouses. When a man is married to more than one wife at the same time, it is called polygyny. When a woman is married to more than one h ...

environment, born to a father who was an 85-year-old

marabout In the Muslim world, the marabout () is a Sayyid, descendant of Muhammad (Arabic: سـيّد, Romanization of Arabic, romanized: ''sayyid'' and ''sidi'' in the Maghreb) and a Islam, Muslim religious leader and teacher who historically had the f ...

. After completing her elementary education in her native village, she studied at the Malick Sy Secondary School in

Thiès Thiès (; ; Noon language, Noon: ''Chess'') is the third largest city in Senegal with a population of 391,253 in 2023. It lies east of Dakar on the N2 road (Senegal), N2 road and at the junction of railway lines to Dakar, Bamako and Saint-Louis, ...

. After a year 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 ...

, she obtained a scholarship that allowed her to continue studying in

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

. In 1980 she returned to her home, where she became the 28th wife in the harem of the village

. After his death, she returned to the big city. From 1986 to 1993, Bugul worked for the NGO IPPF (International Planned Parenthood Federation) in

Nairobi Nairobi is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Kenya. The city lies in the south-central part of Kenya, at an elevation of . The name is derived from the Maasai language, Maasai phrase , which translates to 'place of cool waters', a ...

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

;

Brazzaville Brazzaville () is the capital (political), capital and largest city of the Republic of the Congo. Administratively, it is a Departments of the Republic of the Congo, department and a Communes of the Republic of the Congo, commune. Constituting t ...

, Congo; and

Lomé Lomé ( , ) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities in Togo, largest city of Togo. It has an urban population of 837,437

Togo Togo, officially the Togolese Republic, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to Ghana–Togo border, the west, Benin to Benin–Togo border, the east and Burkina Faso to Burkina Faso–Togo border, the north. It is one of the le ...

, and served as the head of the organization's African region section. She subsequently married a doctor from

Benin Benin, officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It was formerly known as Dahomey. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the north-west, and Niger to the north-east. The majority of its po ...

and gave birth to a daughter. Today she lives and works in Senegal. From July to December 2017 Ken Bugul was the 14t
Writer in Residence
in

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

. Bugul's literary reputation has varied from place to place. She was awarded the

Grand prix littéraire d'Afrique noire The Grand prix littéraire d'Afrique noire (one of the major literary prizes of Black Africa for Francophone Literature) is a literary prize presented every year by the ADELF, the Association of French Language Writers for a French original text ...

for her novel ''Riwan ou le Chemin de Sable'' in 2000, but is better known among American readers for her novel '' The Abandoned Baobab'', which is her only book to date to have been translated into English. Among other themes, the work deals with and critiques African colonialism. On the question of ''The Abandoned Baobab'''s autobiographical nature, Bugul has said of the novel, as well as of the subsequent ''Cendres et Braises'' and ''Riwan ou Le chemin de sable'', "All three books mirror the very deep and radical experiences I went through". As of late, her status among American feminists has diminished somewhat, as many have critiqued her for marrying a holy man who already had more than 20 wives.

Works

* ''Le Baobab Fou'' (1982); translated into English as '' The Abandoned Baobab: The Autobiography of a Senegalese Woman'' (1991) * ''Cendres et braises'' (1994); "Ashes and Embers" * ''Riwan ou le Chemin de Sable'' (1999); "Riwan; or, the Sandy Track" * ''La Folie et la mort'' (2000); "Madness and Death" * ''De l'autre côté du regard'' (2002); "As Seen From the Other Side" * ''Rue Félix-Faure'' (2005) * ''La pièce d'or'' (2005); "The Gold Coin" * ''Mes hommes à moi'' (2008) * ''Aller et Retour'' (2014) * ''Cacophonie'' (2014) * ''Riwan ou le Chemin de sable'' (2018) * ''Le Trio bleu'' (2022)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bugul, Ken 1947 births Living people Senegalese feminists Senegalese women writers Senegalese writers Senegalese novelists International Writing Program alumni 20th-century pseudonymous writers 21st-century pseudonymous writers Pseudonymous women writers Grand prix littéraire d'Afrique noire winners