This is a non-exhaustive write-up of published Bambara, Malinké, Dioula and Mandinka language books that can be considered literary. (If you are looking for dictionaries, grammar or learner's manuals for learning or studying Manding, have a look at the Resources page instead.)

It stems from an email from someone that asked me for recommendations on potential Bambara language books that they could read for their own to practice and improve their language skills.

A glaring hole in this piece is the lack of any mention of Manding language books written in the N'ko script.

While any serious student of Manding will eventually want to learn N'ko and begin to dive into its significant and ever-growing body of publications (which you can get a sense of by viewing this now dated, but helpful preliminary bibliography of N'ko publications), I decided that I would limit this piece to exclusively to Latin script publications.

In reality, the majority of the list is adapted from this beautiful write-up in French by Jean Derive, but I've gone through the trouble of adding WorldCat links and a few sources that he did not mention. In cases where I could not identify a book in WorldCat (this happened for numerous books of the "written literature" category [see below] that were published out of Mali), I have simply omitted them.

My hope is that this write-up and its links can help people find actual copies of these books since they are not easily identifiable if you search via Google or Amazon. Besides in the libraries listed place to look is in the Electronic Bambara Library or in the Electronic Maninka Library.

Feedback? Broken links? Shoot me a message. I ni ce!

Transcribed oral literature

Manding society is well known for the spoken literature of its oral tradition. Since the beginning of the 20th century, a large number of local and foreign scholars have collected, transcribed and translated these practices into published book format.

This last is not definitive, but it should cover most of the major books since such works are more likely to be catalogued and recognized by Western institutions.

Tales

• Contes bambara (Bailleul 1975)

• Contes bambara : Mali et Sénégal oriental (Meyer & Görög-Karady 1985)

• Contes bambara/bamana nsiirinw (Görög-Karady & Diarra 1979)

• Proverbes et contes bambara (Travélé 1923)

• Ntalen jula | Contes dioula (Derive & Derive 1980) - Jean Derive has written a nice summary of this work.

• Contes du pays manding (Meyer, 1988)

• Contes malinké et bambara du Sénégal oriental (Deglaire & Meyer 1976)

• Bamanan Nzirin: Bamanan Tales in Bambara and English (Kone 1995) - A version of this can be purchased directly from the publisher, Mother Tongue Editions.

• Nsiirin! Nsiirin! : Jula folktales from West Africa (Giray 1997)

These general review works also include bilingual Manding-French tales:

• Les manding et leur langue (Labouret 1934)

• Les Bambara du Ségou et du Kaarta (Monteil 1924)

Myths

• Camara's "Le pagne de la vieille femme ou l'origine de la royauté" in Recueil de littérature manding (ACCT 1980)

• Récits étiologiques (ngalen kuma) in "Le fonctionnement sociologique de la littérature orale : l'exemple des Dioula de Kong" (Derive 1987)

Proverbs

• Recueil de proverbes bambaras et malinkés (Molin 1960)

• Sentences et proverbes Bamanan (Traoré 1995)

• Proverbes et contes bambara (Travélé 1923)

• Proverbes malinké : à l'ombre des grands fromagers (Meyer 1988)

• Le fonctionnement sociologique de la littérature orale : l'exemple des Dioula de Kong (Derive 1987) - This larger thèse d'état covers various genres of oral literature, including proverbs.

• Sagesse bambara : proverbes et sentences (Bailleul 2005)

• Mande Zana ni Ntalen wa ni ko | More than a thousand Mande Proverbs (Kone 1995) - This also potentially is available under another name: "Bamanan Ntalenw 1177". Can be purchased directly from the publisher, Mother Tongue Editions.

• Bamanan ntalenw kalan ko (Centre de litérature evangélique, 1981)

Epics

• La prise de Dionkoloni : épisode de l'épopée bambara (Dumestre, Kesteloot & Traore 1975) - Jean Derive has done a small write-up. Can be purchased directly from the publisher, Karthala.

• La geste de Ségou (Dumestre 1979) - NOTE: Jean Derive has done a small write-up. Can be purchased directly from the publisher, Karthala.

• The Epic of Sun-Jata according to Magan Sissoko (Johnson 1978) - A telling of the Sunjata tale by the son of Fa-Digi Sisòkò. See below.

• The Epic of Son-Jara (Johnson 1986) - A second edition of this book was published in 1992, and a third edition with a transcription and translation (and separate audio recording) of the original performance by Fa-Digi Sisòkò was published in 2003.

• L'Epopée de Sunjata d'après Lansina Diabaté de Kela (Jansen 1995) - Bilingual Manding-French text.

• Sunjata, three Mandinka versions (Innes 1974)

• Creissels & Jatta's "La jeunesse de Sunjata" in Recueil de littérature manding (ACCT 1980)

• Lasiri dɔnkiri ('origin song') section in "Le fonctionnement sociologique de la littérature orale : l'exemple des Dioula de Kong" (Derive 1987)

• The epic of Sumanguru Kante (Bulman & Vydrine 2017) - I have done a small write-up on this book. Can be purchased directly from the publisher, Brill.

• Somono Bala of the Upper Niger (Conrad 2001) - Can be purchased directly from the publisher, Brill

• Segu maana bamanankan na (Conrad 1998) - Bamanan language edition of the epic of Segu. Also published in English as "A State of Intrigue".

Chronicles

• Kaabu and Fuladu : historical narratives of the Gambian Mandinka (Innes 1976)

• Table ronde sur les origines de Kong (Derive & Diabaté 1977) - Bilingual French-Jula text of the transcript of questions and answers during a "round table" meeting of researchers and so-called "traditionalists".

• Chroniques des grandes familles d'Odienné (Derive 1980)

• Les mémoires de Maalaŋ Galisa sur le royaume confédéré du Kaabu (Giesing & Creissels 2017) - Can be purchased directly from the publisher, Brill.

• Entretiens avec Bala Kanté : une chronique du Manding du XXème siècle (Jansen & Diarra 2005) - Can be purchased directly from the publisher, Brill.

• Djinns, Stars and Warriors: Mandinka Legends from Pakao, Senegal (Schaffer 2003) - Can be purchased directly from the publisher, Brill.

Written literature

Manding language written literature in Latin script is not widely consumed by people in West Africa. Nonetheless, decades of adult literacy programs and bilingual schooling projects have led to a small tradition of publishers and authors. As Derive notes, the primary aim of their books is most often "didactic"—that is, they aim to "facilitate literacy in Manding and/or reflection about societal issues." (Another major genre—not focused on here—is religious texts written by Islamic scholars or Christian missionaries.)

In any case, this list is far from definitive; my personal library of Latin-based Manding books contains many titles not listed here. Many others can be found in the Electronic Bambara Library and Electronic Maninka Library. Other Manding-language books published in West Africa simply fly under the radar of international record-keeping, libraries, etc. Nonetheless, the list should be a useful starting point if you are curious to know what is out there or find a Manding-language book in a library near you.

Adapted from oral literature

The following are essentially re-works or adaptations of oral literature into conventional literary forms as understood and consumed in the West.

Tales

• Maya ni Taya (Traoré 1989)
• Nsiirin (Kulubali, Wulale & Berete 1994)

Proverbs

• Sentences et proverbes bamanan (Traore 1995)

Epics

• Tonnkan (Diabaté)
• Gɛnkurunin (Diabaté)
• Tabusire (Diabaté)

Chronicles

• Kɛko ye fɔko ye (Wulale 1995) - About the history of Segu kingdom.

• Wagadu fo Sudan (Cissoko 1990) - West African history from Wagadu (commonly called the "Ghana emire") to the Sudan (the historical name used to refer to much of the Sahel).

• Manden buruju (Collectif 1997) - The origin of Manden (the region that gave rise to the historical polity commonly referred to as the "Mali empire").

"Conventional" written literature

The following are works written directly as conventional literary works as understood and consumed in the West such as novels, plays, etc.

Novel

• Kanuya Wale | Acte d'amour (Niaré 1996) - Was later adapted into a graphic novel; see below.

Short story

• Donso Mamari (Théra 2010)
• Ɲakurunin (Coulibaly 2007)
• Fatɔya ni Jigiya (Dukure 1988)
• I ka n niin kojugu (Kafando 2008) - Originally written in French and then translated.

Theatre

• Ntomukun (Niaré 2010)
• Masasi (Niaré & Théra 2010)

Essay

• Hinɛ nana | Réveil d'un paysannat (Traoré 1992)

Autobiographical essay

• Siyakaba (Tarawele 1996)

Comic & Graphic Novel

• Karimu ni Kaja (Théra 2013) - Note that an earlier edition (with an excerpt) is available in the Electronic Bambara Library.
• Kanuya wale (Niaré 2010) - An adaptation of Niaré's novel (list above) into a graphic format.