Born in Dakar, Senegal, in 1957, Pap Abdoulaye Khouma is an African Italian novelist, essayist, teacher, and journalist. Fluent in several languages including French and his native idiom Wolof, Khouma recounts in his autobiographical novel Io, venditore di elefanti [I Was an Elephant Salesman] (1990) that, in Senegal, he was a ceramist and liked to paint (16). Around 1974, he migrated to Abidjan in the Ivory Coast where he became a vendor. However, maybe because he felt a strong sense of nostalgia, the young Khouma decided to return to Senegal. He then immigrated to Europe in 1984. At first, he wanted to go to Spain – because the plane ticket was cheaper, he writes (23) –, but in July&…
1580 words
Citation: Ciamparella, Anna. "Pap Khouma". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 24 January 2019 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=14142, accessed 21 November 2024.]