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David Diop

デイヴィッド・ディオプ

David Diop

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1966-02-24 （Paris, France）
Nationality
French
Languages
French
Residence History
Dakar, Senegal → Pau, France

Career

Occupations
Novelist, Academic
Active Years
1998-
Affiliations
University of Pau and the Adour Region
Nominations
Prix Goncourt (shortlisted), Prix Renaudot (shortlisted), Prix Médicis (shortlisted), Prix Femina (shortlisted)

Education

Paris-Sorbonne University
Literature
Degree: 博士（文学）
Country: France
Received a doctorate for studies on 18th-century French literature.

Awards

International Booker Prize
2021
Work: Frère d'âme (At Night All Blood Is Black)
Organization: The Booker Prizes
Result: Winner
Students' Prix Goncourt (Prix Goncourt des Lycéens)
2018
Work: Frère d'âme
Organization: Prix Goncourt des Lycéens
Result: Winner
Los Angeles Times Fiction Book Prize
2020
Work: At Night All Blood Is Black
Organization: Los Angeles Times
Result: Winner
Prix Ahmadou-Kourouma
2018
Work: Frère d'âme
Organization: Prix Ahmadou-Kourouma (Switzerland)
Result: Winner

Awards & Nominations

National Book Award for Translated Literature 1 appearances
  1. Edition 6 (2023) Nominee
    Work: Beyond the Door of No Return

    A historical novel that traces the memory of slavery and colonial violence through a journey to the African coast, where the living and the dead are forced into the same frame.

    Beyond the door of no return, history's wounds accumulate.

    179 pages
    historical fictionslaverycolonialismmemoryjourney

Works

Major Works

1889, l'Attraction universelle

2012 Historical fiction

A historical novel describing the experiences of 11 members of a Senegalese delegation to the 1889 Exposition Universelle in Paris.

ColonialismMobility and identityHistorical memory

Rhétorique nègre au XVIIIe siècle

2018 Scholarly work

A scholarly study dealing with representations of Africans in 18th-century travel writing and abolitionist texts.

Representation studiesColonial discourse18th-century French literature

Frère d'âme (At Night All Blood Is Black)

2018 Historical novel / War fiction

Set in World War I trenches, the novel follows Senegalese rifleman Alfa Ndiaye as he descends into brutality and madness following the death of a childhood friend, exploring colonial violence and the cost of war.

Brutality of warColonialismPsychological breakdownMemory and silence
Translations
  • English translation by Anna Moschovakis (At Night All Blood Is Black, 2020)
  • Italian translation (won the Strega European Prize)
  • Dutch translation (won the Europese Literatuurprijs)

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

2021 Historical fiction

Set in the early 1800s, the novel follows a Frenchman's obsession with the mysterious fate of an escaped slave in Senegal, against the backdrop of French colonial occupation.

History of slaveryObsession and inquiryColonial memory
Translations
  • English translation by Sam Taylor (Beyond the Door of No Return, 2023)

Bibliography

  • 1889, l'Attraction universelle (2012)
  • Rhétorique nègre au XVIIIe siècle (2018)
  • Frère d'âme (2018) — At Night All Blood Is Black (English translation 2020)
  • La Porte du voyage sans retour (2021) — Beyond the Door of No Return (English translation 2023)

Translations of Works

  • Frère d'âme has been translated into more than 30 languages (English translation by Anna Moschovakis, 2020)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Concise, concentrated prosePoetic yet visceral descriptionsBlend of archival rigor and fictional imagination
Recurring Motifs
War and violenceColonialism and memorySilence and untold historiesIdentity and displacement

Legacy

Diop is regarded as a writer who probes colonialism and the memory of war through literature. The international success of Frère d'âme has had significant impact on the translation and reception of Francophone literature and sparked discussion about shared recognition of authors and translators.

Quotes

  • He never said anything to his wife, or to my mother, about his experience. That is why I was always very interested by all the tales and accounts which gave one access to a form of intimacy with that particular war.
    Source: The Guardian (interview) (2021)

Trivia

  • Diop won the 2021 International Booker Prize for At Night All Blood Is Black and split the prize money with translator Anna Moschovakis.
  • Frère d'âme has been translated into more than 30 languages.
  • Born to a French mother and Senegalese father, he spent much of his childhood in Senegal.