Cheikh Anta Diop University hosts symposium on Boubacar Boris Diop

Cheikh Anta Diop University (UCAD) in Dakar has launched a three-day international and interdisciplinary symposium dedicated to the works of journalist and writer Boubacar Boris Diop. The event, running from October 26 to 28, focuses on the theme “Boubacar Boris Diop: the charge and the paths of writing.”

Mamadou Bouna Timéra, Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences, called for the inclusion of Diop’s entire body of work—including literary texts, essays, and journalistic articles—in university curricula. Timéra emphasized that Diop’s career serves as an exceptional example of intellectual rigor, creative audacity, and social engagement.

During the opening session, writer and academic Felwine Sarr delivered an inaugural lecture analyzing Diop’s 2000 novel, “Murambi – Le livre des ossements.” Sarr described the work, which addresses the Rwandan genocide, as a pivotal moment in Diop’s career that explores memory, truth, and the human condition. The novel contributed to Diop receiving the Neustadt International Prize for Literature in 2022.