Monique Ilboudo is a Burkinabe writer, activist, and academic whose work focuses on the promotion of women’s rights and citizenship. She is a regular newspaper contributor, known in particular for her column Féminin pluriel (1992–1995), which addressed the situation of women in her country. Read More Her first novel, Le Mal de Peau (1992), won a national prize in Burkina Faso. She has also held political office as both a minister and ambassador.

In 2015 she returned to teaching law at Thomas Sankara University (Ouagadougou) and reconnected with her passion for writing. Her last novel, Carrefour des veuves (Ed. Les Lettres Mouchetées, 2020), was awarded the Prix littéraire des droits de l’Homme à titre étranger, Paris, 2021 and was a finalist for the Orange Book Prize in Africa 2021.