The works of Camara Laye

Camara Laye (1928–1980) was a writer from Guinea, which was still the Colony of French Guinea when he was born. His first novel, L'Enfant noir (1953, The African Child) was inspired by his own life and won the Prix Charles Veillon in 1954. Afrolivresque put the book on the first spot in its list of 21 classiques africains que vous devez avoir lus avant vos 21 ans, adding that it is a "true classic" and "one of the foundational texts of African literature in French".

His second book, Le Regard du roi (1954), is an allegorical novel in which a penniless white man goes on a kind of spiritual journey in Africa.

After an interruption of 12 years, Laye publishes Dramouss (A Dream of Africa). It is a kind of sequel to his first novel. The main character returns from France to Africa and has difficulty adapting again to life in Africa. He is also confronted with political violence.

His last work, Le Maître de la parole (1978), is a transcription and translation of the Epic of Sundiata as he had heard it in Maninka from the griot Babou Condé.