Between Basse and Milan, I write.

Origins

I was born in Basse Dampha Kunda, a town in the Upper River Region of The Gambia, where Jahanka and Mandinka are the first languages of the home, the market and the courtyard. My early years were shaped by the rhythms of family compounds, oral storytelling, and the long afternoons of a place where the joy and playfulness of childhood take precedence.

Migration

In my twenties, I left The Gambia for Italy. Milan became my second home: a city of different weather, different food, and a different language to learn. The distance from Basse did not weaken my connection to it; it sharpened it. Living between two countries forced me to pay closer attention to both.

Writing

I write because the experiences of migration, identity and African inner life deserve to be recorded by the people who live them. My books, including Il Deserto Non Ha Cielo, Five and Half Senses and A Letter to My Dead Friend from The Gambia, explore the territory between memory and reinvention, between the village and the city, between the languages we inherit and the ones we choose. I write in English and Italian, and I think in Mandinka.

The other work

Alongside writing, I work in commissioning and quality control on data centre projects. The discipline of that work, testing, measuring and documenting, has shaped how I approach every project, including the literary ones. I also serve as a Director of Wolokoto Agro PLC, a family agribusiness based in Pirang, The Gambia.

The Mandinka mission

The most ambitious project I am building is a series of resources for Gambian Mandinka: a coursebook, a dictionary, flashcards, a digital course, and a children’s book of first words. Millions across West Africa speak the language, but the learning materials available today are scarce, scattered, or written by outsiders. I am building the resources I wish had existed when I was younger, for the diaspora, for new learners, and for speakers reconnecting with their roots.

Outside work

When I’m not writing or working, I cook (Gambian and Italian, in roughly equal measure), trek the hills around Lombardy, and spend time with family. Different worlds, same instinct: build something that lasts.