11 December 2003
Ahmadou Kourouma was born in 1927 in CÁ´te d'Ivoire. He went to live and attend school in Mali before leaving for France. When CÁ´te d'Ivoire gained independence in 1960, he returned to his home country. Unhappy with his post- colonial new reality, Kourouma expressed his grievances through writing. His first novel, Les soleils des indépendances (The Suns of Independence, 1970) was a stern criticism of the government of an independent CÁ´te d'Ivoire. Kourouma eventually left his home country. He went on to write three more books after his debut novel, all of which did very well, especially in France. His last book Allah n'est pas oblige (Allah is not obliged) was awarded the Prix Renaudot and the Prix Goncourt des Lycéens. He died on 11 December 2003 in France.
References

Fabre L., Focus on Ahmadou Kourouma, a Francophone writer from Ivory Coast, from IFAS [online], Available at www.ifas.org.za [Accessed: 22 October 2013]|Britannica, Ahmadou Kourouma, from Britannica [online], Available at global.britannica.com [Accessed: 22 October 2013]