Ahmadou Kourouma

Considered one of the great names in French-language literature, Ahmadou Kourouma was born near Boundiali, Ivory Coast, and raised by a Guinean uncle. Educated in Mali, he served in the French army in Indochina between 1950 and 1954, realizing during this time that many French people opposed colonialism. He then went to Paris and Lyon, where he studied mathematics, married a French woman, and joined the Communist Party.
When Ivory Coast became independent in 1960, Kourouma returned to his country only to discover that Houphouet Boigny's government considered him an enemy and had him arrested. He moved to Algeria, returning in 1969, only to find that Houphouet Boigny appointed him to administrative positions in Cameroon and Togo, far from Ivory Coast. Kourouma attempted to write a play, but it was banned and never published.
His first novel Le soleil des indépendances (1968) was set in two African countries, easily identifiable as Ivory Coast and Guinea. They had become independent, reducing a Malinké prince to the status of a beggar under the one-party regime of Houphouet Boigny and Sekou Touré, "great lords of independence".
In 1990, he published his second book, Monné, outrages et défis, which described French conquests in Africa and sought to demonstrate how diseases arose from that period. Although it was not a great success, it won the New Human Rights, as well as 17 other literary awards. In 1998, En attendant le vote des bêtes sauvages had great sales in Africa, something unusual on that continent. In 2000, Allah is not obligated. was awarded the Renadout Award and the Gouncourt des lycéens award.
When internal problems led to a civil war in Ivory Coast, he returned to Lyon. Author of nine children's books, Kourouma promised his daughters that he would write more about the children of his country. He died in France in December 2003.