David Diop (novelist)

David Diop (born 24 February 1966) is a French writer. He writes books and teaches. He studies old French and African stories. He works at the University of Pau in France.

Diop won the 2021 International Booker Prize for his book At Night All Blood Is Black. He was the first French author to win. The book was also shortlisted for ten French awards and won other awards.

 Biography 

David Diop was born in Paris in 1966. His mother is French. His father is from Senegal. 

He moved to Dakar when he was five. He lived in Senegal as a child. He went back to France at 18 to study.

Diop has a doctorate from the Sorbonne. 

In 1998, he became a teacher at the University of Pau and the Adour Region. He teaches 18th-century French literature and African French literature. 

In 2009, he led a group studying Africa in European books. He got his habilitation in 2014. 

Diop now leads the arts, languages, and literature department at the university. He lives in Pau.

 Early works 

He published his first book in 2012. It is called 1889, l'Attraction universelle. The book tells the story of 11 people from Senegal. They went to the 1889 Exposition Universelle in Paris.

In 2018, he published his first scholarly work. It is called Rhétorique nègre au xviiie siècle. The book talks about how Africans were shown in 18th-century travel writing and abolitionist texts.

 At Night All Blood Is Black / Frère d'âme 

Diop's second novel is Frère d'âme. It was published in 2018. The novel is about World War I and colonialism. It tells the story of Senegalese Tirailleurs fighting for France. The main character, Alfa Ndiaye, goes mad after his friend's death. He becomes very violent towards German soldiers. Diop was inspired by his great-grandfather's war service. His great-grandfather never talked about the war. Diop read many books about the Tirailleurs.

Frère d'âme was shortlisted for many French awards. These include the Prix Goncourt, Prix Renaudot, Prix Médicis, and Prix Femina. In 2018, Diop won the Students' Prix Goncourt. He also won the Swiss Prix Ahmadou-Kourouma.

Frère d'âme was translated into English in 2020. The English title is At Night All Blood Is Black. It won the 2020 Los Angeles Times Fiction Book Prize. Diop and his translator Anna Moschovakis won the 2021 International Booker Prize. Diop was the first French author and first African to win the prize.

The novel is being translated into 13 languages. The Italian translation won the Strega European Prize. The Dutch translation won the Europese Literatuurprijs.

 La Porte du voyage sans retour / Beyond the Door of No Return 

Diop's third novel is Beyond the Door of No Return. It is set in the early 1800s. The story is about a Frenchman obsessed with an escaped slave's fate in Senegal. This takes place during the French colonial occupation. In September 2023, the English translation was longlisted for the National Book Award for Translated Literature.

 Bibliography 

 1889, l'Attraction universelle (2012)
 Rhétorique nègre au XVIIIe siècle (2018)
 Frère d'âme (2018). At Night All Blood Is Black, trans. Anna Moschovakis (Farrar, Straus and Giroux / Pushkin Press, 2020)
 La Porte du voyage sans retour (2021). Beyond the Door of No Return, trans. Sam Taylor (Farrar, Straus and Giroux / Pushkin Press, 2023)

References

Category:1966 births
Category:Living people
Category:French novelists
Category:French academics
Category:Writers from Paris