Camara Laye (1928-1980) was a Guinean writer. His novel L'Enfant noir established him as one of the most important novelists from French-speaking Africa.

Camara Laye was born in Kouroussa in Upper Guinea on January 1, 1928. According to Adele King in The Writings of Camara Laye, he was, "passionately concerned with preserving a record of traditional homeland." He let his narrative and his gently observed characters speak of the warmth, wholeness, and deep piety of pre-colonial African culture and of the growing sadness of his people as their culture changed under both the curse and the stimulus of French rule and influence.

Family History

Laye's family belonged to the Malinké people, who retained their ancestral animist religion, despite the region's overall conversion to Islam several centuries ago. His father, Camara Komady, was a blacksmith and goldsmith and a descendent of the Camara clan, which traced its genealogy back to...