Quote by Mariama Bâ: “To surmount the obstacles in the way of true progress.”

This phrase speaks to the necessity of overcoming challenges and barriers to achieve genuine societal advancement. It highlights a proactive stance, suggesting that real development requires persistent effort to dismantle impediments blocking equitable and meaningful change, for a better future.

In "So Long a Letter," the protagonist reflects on the societal constraints and traditional attitudes, particularly those affecting women, that hinder true progress in postcolonial Senegal. The quote captures the ongoing struggle against these ingrained obstacles.

Senegalese novelist and feminist who gained international recognition with her 1979 epistolary novel So Long a Letter, which won the first Noma Award for Publishing in Africa. The novel depicted the lives of two Senegalese women confronting polygamy and social expectations in post-independence Senegal. She died in 1981 before seeing the global impact of her work.