David Diop

About

David Diop is a French-Senegalese novelist and academic, born in Paris in 1966 and raised in Senegal. He is a professor of eighteenth-century French literature at the University of Pau in southwestern France, where his research explores European representations of Africa and the history of travel writing. Diop made his literary debut with 1889, l’Attraction universelle (2012), a historical novel about a Senegalese delegation visiting the Paris Universal Exposition. His second novel, At Night All Blood Is Black (Frère d’âme, 2018), brought him international recognition. Inspired in part by his great-grandfather’s service in the French army during the First World War, the novel examines the psychological trauma of combat and the experiences of Senegalese soldiers fighting for a colonial power. In 2021, Diop and translator Anna Moschovakis jointly won the International Booker Prize for At Night All Blood Is Black, making him the first French author to receive the award. His later novel, Beyond the Door of No Return (2021), explores colonial history, memory and the connections between Africa and Europe. His work is recognised for its lyrical intensity and its examination of colonialism, violence and historical memory.