Award-winning writer Mohamed Mbougar Sarr discusses the origins of his literary work, the experience of migration, and the role of solitude in the creative process: “You start writing because you want to take back something you lost.”
“I started to write because I was alone—because I felt a deep solitude—and I tried to find some voices, or at least some sentences, to express that solitude,” Sarr explains, describing the personal motivations behind his work. He frames literature as a search for what has been lost: “I believe that literature starts with the feeling that you have lost something and that you are alone.”
Speaking about the migrant experience, Sarr reflects on the distance from his family in Senegal: “As a migrant, I felt this more deeply, perhaps, because even the physical presence of my loved ones was missing.” He acknowledges the mutual sense of absence created by migration: “My family in Senegal lost something too—something of me. And they will never take it back.”
For Sarr, writing is both an act of seeking and of dialogue: “What becomes interesting is the relationship between these losses, the lost experiences on one side and on the other. That relationship creates the possibility of conversation.” He concludes with a meditation on the creative power of loss: “Losing something always creates something. It’s very simple.”
This conversation offers a rare glimpse into the inner life of one of today’s most acclaimed writers, exploring the intersections of memory, solitude, and storytelling.
Mohamed Mbougar Sarr, born in 1990 in Dakar, Senegal, is an influential novelist recognized for his literary prowess. His notable works include La Cale (2014), Silence du chœur (2017), and La plus secrète mémoire des hommes (2021), the latter of which won the prestigious Prix Goncourt. Sarr’s writing often explores themes of identity, exile, and the interplay between African and European literary traditions.
Mohamed Mbougar Sarr was interviewed by Lotte Folke Kaarsholm at the French Embassy in Copenhagen, Denmark, in May 2023.
Camera: Rasmus Quistgaard
Edit: Signe Boe Pedersen
Produced by Christian Lund
Copyright: Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2026.
Louisiana Channel is supported by Den A.P. Møllerske Støttefond
Subscribe to our channel for more videos on literature: https://www.youtube.com/thelouisianachannel
FOLLOW US HERE:
Website: http://channel.louisiana.dk
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/louisianachannel
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LouisianaChannel
source
UCY2mhw-XNZSxrUynsI5K8Zw
