Photo: Rama / CC BY-SA 2.0 fr (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Emmanuel Dongala fascinates me because he refuses to be one thing. A chemist specializing in stereochemistry and environmental toxicology who is also a celebrated novelist giving voice to Congolese experience, he lives a dual life most of us could only manage half of. Born in Brazzaville and later teaching in the United States, he carried his homeland's turbulence into literature while keeping a rigorous scientific mind. The Guggenheim Fellowship and the major African literature prize confirm what the biography hints at: real excellence on both fronts. I have deep admiration for people who hold the analytical and the artistic in the same hands, and Dongala does it with rare grace.
Overview
Emmanuel Boundzéki Dongala (born 1941) is a Congolese chemist and novelist. He was born in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, in 1941. He was Richard B. Fisher Chair in Natural Sciences at Bard College at Simon's Rock until 2014. Dongala's specialty as a chemist is stereochemistry and asymmetric synthesis, as well as environmental toxicology.
Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Emmanuel Dongala
- Name (Japanese)
- エマニュエル・ドンガラ
- Reading
- えまにゅえる・どんがら
- Born
- July 14, 1941 (age 84)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Cancer / Snake
- Origin
- Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- writer
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Private
- University
- Rutgers University
Awards & achievements
- 1999 Guggenheim Fellowship
- 1988 Grand prix littéraire en poésie d'Afrique noire
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.