Scarlet Song (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781035930449)

Mariama Bâ was born in Dakar, Senegal in 1929. After winning the first prize in the entrance examination to train as a teacher at École Normale, Bâ taught in Dakar from 1947 until 1959. A vocal activist for women's rights and class equality in Africa, her literary work often criticised the lack of educational opportunities offered to women as well as challenging the systems of polygamy and castes in Senegalese society. Bâ died in 1981.

Dorothy S. Blair (1913-1998) was a British scholar and translator of Francophone African literature. She was a professor of French, and translated major works by Mariama Bâ, Assia Djebar, and Amin Maalouf.