Born: 1945, Equatorial Guinea
Died: 18 January 2017
Country most active: Equatorial Guinea
Also known as: NA
Known for her work on colonization’s lasting impacts on African societies and the oppression of women drawing inspiration from her Fang cultural background, Equatoguinean writer María Nsué Angüe also served as the country’s Minister of Education and Culture.
Nsue Angüe was born in jail in Bata, where her parents were imprisoned for anti-colonial activities. Although she spent her early years in Bidjabidján, she was entrusted to a missionary family as a child, who took her to Spain to raise. Growing up under the Franco regime, she returned to Equatorial Guinea in 1971 after the country gained independence in 1968. She re-connected with her grandfather and her Fang heritage, including traditional practices, oral stories and language. Moving to Malabo, she served as a director in the Ministry of Women’s Affairs in 1979 and 1980, later working for the Ebano newspaper.
Angüe is best known for her 1985 novel Ekomo, which is widely recognized as the first Spanish-language Equatoguinean novel published by a woman. Although originally published in Madrid and being translated into French in 1995, it criticized European colonialism. She also published short stories (including the 1999 collection Relatos, largely based on traditional Fang stories), poetry and articles. She also provided music and words for the 1997 computer project Mbayah, o la leyenda del sauce llorón (Mbayah, or the Legend of the Weeping Willow), which was released on CD-ROM. It was an interactive production interweaving songs, legends and history. She also directed a collective storytelling project in Malabo, including the popular television program Bia-Ba (Here We Are) to provide access to urban Fang children with cultural ties through oral histories.