Lamine Diakhate

As a black African author and poet writing in French, Diakhate was one of the leading figures of the Négritude school. In his understanding this literary movement constituted an effort to give voice to the traditions and cultural values of black Africa, and to actively participate in the development of a universal humanism in cooperation with other civilizations. As a literary critic, Diakhate promoted ideas that were originally been formulated, or expressed, by Aimé Césaire, Léon-Gontran Damas, and Léopold Sédar Senghor. He introduced writers of the Négritude school to his readers and analyzed the works of others who did not belong to this school. Together with Aimé Césaire and Alioune Diop he was one of the five members of the editorial committee of Éditions Présence Africaine in Paris. This publishing house later printed several of his poetical works, and its journal, Présence Africaine, included several of his scholarly articles. For several years he also served as secretary for cultural affairs (secrétaire culturel) of the Société Africaine de Culture (SAC). Diakhate participated in a large number of literary festivals and conferences in Africa, Europe, and Asia. He attended several Biennales Internationales de Poésie, for example the V. and und XII. Biennale of Knokke-Le-Zout in Belgium (September 1961; 1975), the Première and Troisième Biennale de la Langue Française in Namur and Liège (Belgium) in the years 1965 and 1969, the Colloques des Écrivains Afro-Scandinaves in Stockholm, Sweden, the Congrès des Ècrivains Afro-Asiatiques in Beirut, Lebanon in March 1967, the Festival Poétique de Struga (ex-Jugoslavia) in August 1976, the Fourth World Congress of Poets in Seoul, Corea, from July 2 until 7th, 979, as well as the 15e Congrès de l’Union Internationale des Journalistes et de la Presse de Langue Française in Paris from September 29. September until bis October 6, 1979. On several occasions Mr. Diakhate became one of the organizers, for example of the Premier Festival Mondial des Arts Nègres from April 1 until April 24, 1966 in Dakar, the Festival Culturel Panafricain d’Alger of the year 1969, the Journées Culturelles Africaines de Turin, Italy, in April 1967. the Colloque sur la Négritude in Dakar, Senegal, in April 1971, as well as the Introduction à la Poésie de L. S. Senghor in Casablanca, Morokko, in April 1974.

The literary merits of Lamine Diakhate were formally recognized on several occasions. He was elected a member of the Société des Gens de Lettres de France in November 1976. And he was awarded two literary prizes: The Prix Edgar Poe for the year 1971, granted to him by the Maison de la Poésie in Paris, and the Grand Prix Littéraire de l’Afrique Noire 1979 for his novel Chalys d'Harlem.