Annette M'Baye d'Erneville. Senegal (1926- ).

M'baye was born in Sokone Senegal in 1926. Unlike many of her contemporaries, M'Baye was educated primarily in Senegal, receiving her teaching degree from the École Normale d'Institutrices (Teacher's College) in Rufisque, 1945. After a short tenure as the General Superintendent of the École Normale in Rufisique, M'baye left Senegal to study teaching and education in Paris. Upon her return to Senegal in 1959, M'baye became a reporter and (in 1960) the commissary of the Regional Information in Diourbel. In 1963 M'baye founded and became principal editor of the Senegalese women's magazine "Awa." Still immersed in journalism, she became Program Director of Radio Senegal shortly thereafter.

Throughout her various careers, M'baye continued writing poetry. While she does not completely avoid the African struggle for independence, M'baye rarely ventures into the political treatises of her Senegalese colleagues, David Diop and Leopold Senghor. Her two published volumes explore her love for humanity, the trials of human endeavor, and, especially, the power of women in African society. Highly personal and stylized, her work continues the African poetry tradition of her generation by breaking at the walls of free-form expression.

Labane, Lines 1-7

Our lost virginities will never be regained.
Never more will be chosen from princely
beds.

     The Royal Eagle, with his pearly beak
     Digs into the slain hearts
     Ruptures the life roots
     Abandons the remains

Kassacks, Lines 1-2, 7-13

You are a man, tonight!
You are a man, my son!

And your mother remembers
     Her night of love
     Her torn entrails
     Her silent groans
     Her open loins
     The envious looks of her wicked rivals
     The greedy suction of your flower-shaped mouth

Requiem, Lines 7-11

Who could have thought, seeing you so beautiful,
That you were dressing for Lady Death?
Embrace of the night? Kiss of the early morning?
The sand of the desert has cast your curves
And burned them to a powder.

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© Copyright 1995-2005. Dan Reboussin, Africana Collection, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida . Last modified: December 18, 2003 . All hyperlinks verified as of May 28, 2004.