A01=Williams Sassine
Achebe
agency
Author_Williams Sassine
Category=FBA
Category=NHTV
colonialism
Dangarembga
death
eq_bestseller
eq_fiction
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_modern-contemporary
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
exile
forthcoming
freedom
history
identity
Mabanckou
massacre
memory
Mozambique
neocolonialism
Ngugi
oppression
poetry
postcolonialism
race
resistance
satire
Sembene
Soyinka
trauma
violence
Product details
- ISBN 9781035914272
- Dimensions: 129 x 198mm
- Publication Date: 10 Sep 2026
- Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Paperback
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Set against the 1972 massacre in the Mozambican village of Wiriyamu, Williams Sassine weaves a narrative of trauma, resistance, and existential reckoning, confronting the brutal legacy of colonial violence in Africa.
At its heart is Kabalango, a disillusioned poet who views death as the final act of freedom, and Condelo, an albino man haunted by racial stigma and the memory of his mother.
Wirriyamu is a profound meditation on freedom, identity, and the power of choosing one’s own story.
Discover the APOLLO AFRICA series: the new home for 100 timeless works from the legendary Heinemann African Writers Series.
Williams Sassine (1944–1997) was a Guinean novelist and journalist, born in Kankan to a Lebanese Christian father and Guinean Muslim mother. His writing, in French, often explored themes of marginality, exile, and identity. After opposing Sékou Touré’s regime, Sassine lived in exile across West Africa and France, working as a mathematics teacher. He returned to Guinea later in life and became editor of the satirical newspaper Le Lynx. His acclaimed novels include Saint Monsieur Baly, Le jeune homme de sable, and Wirriyamu, which was translated into English in 1980. Sassine remains a vital voice in postcolonial African literature.
