Born in Bal­ti­more in the Unit­ed States to Trinida­di­an par­ents, Lau­ren Fran­cis-Shar­ma has built an ac­claimed lit­er­ary ca­reer by un­earthing hid­den his­to­ries and un­told truths.

Maria­ma Bâ was born in 1929 in Dakar, Sene­gal, then part of French West Africa. She came from a promi­nent Lebu fam­i­ly: her fa­ther, Amadou Bâ, was a civ­il ser­vant who be­came one of ...