Emmanuel Dongala

His work, Photo de groupe au bord du fleuve won him both the Le Prix Virilo in 2010, Le Prix Ahmadou Kourouma in 2011, and Le Prix Mokanda in 2013.

Dongala's work is featured in the Penguin Book of Modern African Poetry, and he has been the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship. There is a film based on his book Johnny Mad Dog, a 2008 French-Liberian film directed by Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire and starring Christopher Minie, Daisy Victoria Vandy, Dagbeh Tweh, Barry Chernoh, Mohammed Sesay and Joseph Duo. He was winner of the 2004 Cezam Prix Littéraire Inter CE for Johnny chien méchant.

Though he was not widely known at the time, Dongala's name appeared in press in Paris after Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire's film Johnny Mad Dog was released in 2008.

He became the laureate of the Fonlon-Nichols de l'excellence littéraire from the African Literature Association in 2003 for his "literary creativity" and "his contribution to the fight for the rights of man, particularly for the freedom of expression."

For Les Petites Garçons naissent aussi des étoiles, Dongala received le Prix RFI-Témoin du Monde in 1998.

Dongala won the Grand Prix Littéraire de l'Afrique Noire in 1988 for Le Feu des origines. This work also won him le Prix Charles Oulmont from the Fondation de France (1988).

Dongala traveled to the US to obtain his BA in Chemistry from Oberlin College and his MS from Rutgers University before earning a Ph.D. in chemistry at the University of Montpellier in France, then returned to the Congo to teach polymeric chemistry at Marien Ngouabi University. In 1981, he cofounded Le Théâtre de l'Eclair with author Léandre-Alain Baker. In 1997, he was dean of Marien Ngouabi University in Brazzaville when war broke out in the Republic of Congo. The civil war of 1997-1998 forced Dongala and his family to abandon their possessions and seek asylum in the United States. Through his literary connections, particularly through his friend Philip Roth, Dongala obtained a teaching position at Bard College in Massachusetts for both chemistry and literature. At first he wanted to return to his country to be with his colleagues and improve the University of Brazzaville, however, Dongala ultimately decided to stay in the States to pursue both his career as a chemistry professor and as an author.

Emmanuel Boundzéki Dongala (born 1941) is a Congolese chemist and novelist. He was born in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, in 1941. He was Richard B. Fisher Chair in Natural Sciences at Bard College at Simon's Rock until 2014.