Tanella Boni

Tanella Boni
Boni at book fair in Geneva, 2012
Born
Tanella Suzanne Boni

1954 (1954)
Abidjan, Ivory Coast, French West Africa
DiedSeptember 15, 2026(2026-09-15) (aged 71–72)
Toulouse, France
EducationUniversity of Paris (PhD)
OccupationsPoet, novelist and academic
EmployerUniversity of Cocody-Abidjan (now University of Félix Houphouët-Boigny)
Websiteaflit.arts.uwa.edu.au/BoniTanellaEng.html

Tanella Suzanne Boni (1954 – 15 September 2026) was an Ivorian poet and novelist. Also an academic, she was Professor of Philosophy at the University of Abidjan. Apart from her teaching and research activities, she was the President of the association of writers of the Ivory Coast from 1991 to 1997, and later the organizer of the International Poetry Festival in Abidjan from 1998 to 2002.

Life and career

Tanella Boni was born in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, where she was educated to high-school level, before going on to further university studies in Toulouse, France, and at the University of Paris, obtaining a PhD. She subsequently became Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cocody-Abidjan (now the University of Félix Houphouët-Boigny), as well as writing poetry, novels, short stories, criticism, and children's literature.

Boni served as President of the Writers' Association of Ivory Coast from 1991 to 1997 and organized Abidjan's International Poetry Festival from 1998 to 2002. During the political strife in Ivory Coast (from 2002 until 2011), she self-exiled to France.

In 2005, she received the Ahmadou Kourouma Prize for her novel Matins de couvre-feu (Mornings after curfew). In 2009, she won the Antonio Viccaro International Poetry Prize. From 2013, Boni divided her time between Abidjan and Paris.

Boni was a contributor to the 2019 anthology New Daughters of Africa, edited by Margaret Busby.

Boni died in Toulouse, France, on 15 September 2026.

Bibliography

Awards

References

  1. ↑ "Tanella Boni" at Aflit, The University of Western Australia.
  2. ↑ "Tanella Boni (Cote de Ivoire)", Centre for Creative Arts, University of KwaZulu-Natal.
  3. 1 2 "Tanella Boni (Côte d'Ivoire)", UNESCO.
  4. ↑ Polo Moji, "Domesticating Ivoirité: Equating xenophobic nationalism and women’s marginalisation in Tanella Boni’s Matins de couvre-feu (2005)", International Journal of African Renaissance Studies - Multi-, Inter- and Transdisciplinarity, Volume 8, Issue 2, 2013.
  5. 1 2 Tanella Boni biography Archived 2018-10-27 at the Wayback Machine, Europe Now, Council for European Studies, 1 March 2018.
  6. ↑ Otosirieze Obi-Young (10 January 2018). "Margaret Busby's New Daughters of Africa Anthology to Feature 200 Female Writers Including Adichie, Aminatta Forna, Bernadine Evaristo, Imbolo Mbue, Warsan Shire, Zadie Smith". Brittle Paper. Retrieved 1 November 2026.
  7. ↑ "Avis de décès de Tanella Boni". simplifia.fr.
  8. ↑ "Not the Caine Prize". africasacountry.com. 2025-03-07. Retrieved 2025-03-10.