Aminata Sophie Dièye

Aminata Sophie Dièye (1973 – February 17, 2016) was a Senegalese journalist, novelist, and playwright.

Aminata Dièye died overnight of untreated diabetes on February 17, 2016, at age 42.

She is best known for her weekly newspaper column under the pen name Ndèye Takhawalou and her Prix Emmanuel Roblès-winning 2004 novel La nuit est tombée sur Dakar, published under the pseudonym Aminata Zaaria.

In 2004, she published her first novel, La nuit est tombée sur Dakar, under the pen name Aminata Zaaria. The novel tells the story of two girls from Dièye's own home region of Thiès, who flee to Dakar in an attempt to avoid becoming an old man's second or third wife. However, in the city they experience poor treatment from their new white companions and fall into hard times. La nuit est tombée sur Dakar, like much of Dièye's work, is written in a simple, direct, yet emotionally moving style. Some literary critics have described it as semi-autobiographical, with the narrator representing Dièye in her early years in the capital. La nuit est tombée sur Dakar won the 2004 Prix Emmanuel Roblès.

Dièye was married to the French writer and director Lucio Mad [fr]. She moved to France with him in 2004. Mad died of cancer the following year, leaving her a widow at only 32 years old.

In 2000, Dièye wrote the play Consulat Zénéral. A satire of African society, it takes place in a French consulate, where the characters wait anxiously for visa approval. The play was performed on a tour across five African countries.

Aminata Sophie Dièye was born in 1973 in Thiès, Senegal, into a Sufi Muslim family. Her father was a traveling tax inspector and was not present during her childhood.