Aïda Mady Diallo


Aïda Mady Diallo is a French-born Malian novelist and director. She is the author of the novel Kouty, mémoire de sang.

Life and work

After her childhood in France and receiving a college degree in Uzbekistan, Diallo moved to Mali.
Her novel Kouty, mémoire de sang, tells the story of a young girl in 1980s Gao seeking the death of her family at the hands of Tuareg killers. In an interview with the magazine Bamako Culture, Diallo described the novel as "a call for tolerance and forgiveness." Critic Pim Higginson described it as adapting the tropes of the crime novel and romance novel to critique the fascination of Western readers with African violence.
Diallo's television film Karim et Doussou, the story of a contemporary Malian marriage, was nominated for a 2011 Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou award.

Publications