The Grapes from the Baobab

"How could I have lived and worked in the presence of the brilliant and caring young man called Ibrahima Amadou Niang (we called him Ibou, in great affection) and not know that I was rubbing shoulders with a great young poet? Because we talked about everything except the essential? Now the essential is here in these fierce and moving and often haunting poems speaking of love and travels and sadness and compassion - for people and for pelicans! - and sometimes of anger. The love is deep and nuanced, the way with words is scintillating and apt and impressive way beyond what one would expect from a young wordsmith, and the anger can only be that of a profoundly committed poet. I am privileged to have seen these poems and to be allowed to say: I know this man. His heart is strong and nimble. He does pride to his ancestors. He takes his place among the finest voices of his country. And be sure - he will go far." - Breyten Breytenbach, author of Windcatcher (2007), Voice Over: A Nomadic Conversation with Mahmoud Darwish (2009), Catalects (Artefacts for the slow uses of dying) (2012) etc. Ibrahima Amadou Niang is a Senegalese writer, poet and political scientist. Niang currently heads the Guinea country office of the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA). Prior to this position, he worked for the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) in Ghana and the Gorée Institute in Senegal. He studied International Relations and Economics at the University of Reading, UK; and for an MSc in Governance at Université Cheikh Anta Diop in Dakar, Senegal, from where he also completed a PhD in Political Science. Ariane Baer-Harper is the Director of Global Engagement and French teacher at Allendale Columbia School in Rochester, NY, USA. She started her professional career in Dakar, Senegal in 1998, and it was there that she discovered her passion for languages and writing. She holds a BA in Modern Languages from Hobart and William Smith Colleges and an MSc in Education from SUNY Geneseo, USA. She is currently working on completing her first novel.