Paperback: 235 pages
Publisher: Ejo Editions, 2017

BUY THE BOOK: Contact Ejo Editions at info@ejobooks.com

BÀMMEELU KOCC BARMA

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Second novel published by Boubacar Boris Diop in Wolof after Doomi Golo, Bàmmeelu Kocc Barma returns to the Joola shipwreck off the coast of the Gambia in 2002. The novel represents a memorial to the victims of this national tragedy, a cautionary tale to prevent similar disasters from ever happening again. The story is told from the perspective of Njéeme Pay who blends into her narrative personal memories of her friend and widely celebrated fictional writer Kinne Gaajo, who perished in the shipwreck.

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Njéeme Pay, taskatu xibaar bu siiw ci Senegaal, moo toog bés këram dégg ci rajoy réew mi ne Joolaa bi, bato bi daan lëkkale Sigicoor ak Ndakaaru, suux na. Bàmmeelu Kocc Barma day delsi ci jéyya ju tiis jooju, di sargal ñi ci faatu ñépp, di jéem a yeewaale yit askan wi ngir lu ni mel bañ noo dalati. Waaye Njéeme yemul foofu: dafa nuy fàttali yit jaar-jaaru ndem-si-Yàlla ji Kinne Gaajo, fentaakon bu mag bu fiy taalifam yéemoon Afrig ak àddina si yépp. Ñoom ñaar nag, ay xariti benn bakkan, ay doomi-ndey, lañu woon, mu xamaloon ko lépp. Looloo tax Njéeme Pay di dànkaafu jàngkat bi, naan ko: bul jàppe Bàmmeelu Kocc Barma ni téereb nettali doŋŋ, téereb dekkali la tamit. Yokk na ci sax ne “fey bor, féddali kóllëre ak sàmm sama kàddu ñoo ma ko tax a bind…”