Babacar Mbaye Ndaak, the Senegalese teacher, writer and storyteller widely known as the “Maître de la Parole,” has died in Dakar.
The founder and president of the Association of Senegalese Storytellers, known as Leeboon ci Leer, died during the night of Sunday, July 26, into Monday, July 27, 2026.
Senegal’s national news agency, APS, confirmed his death on Monday. Dr Massamba Guèye, founder of Kër Leyti and a prominent Senegalese storyteller, also paid tribute to Ndaak as a mentor, guide and protector.
Ndaak spent decades protecting Senegal’s oral traditions. Through teaching, writing, television and live performance, he presented storytelling as more than entertainment. For him, it was a way to educate children, preserve history and strengthen social values.
What was Babacar Mbaye Ndaak’s cause of death?
The medical cause of Babacar Mbaye Ndaak’s death had not been publicly announced at the time of publication.
APS, RTS and Emedia reported that he died in Dakar during the night of July 26–27, 2026. None of those reports identified an illness or another medical cause.
His exact age and funeral arrangements had also not been officially confirmed.
Who was Babacar Mbaye Ndaak?
Babacar Mbaye Ndaak was a Senegalese history and geography teacher, storyteller, writer and cultural trainer.
BIOGRAPHY
Who Was Babacar Mbaye Ndaak? Life, Career and Death
Jul 27, 2026
Jul 27, 2026
11 min read
Published
Updated:
Babacar Mbaye Ndaak, the Senegalese teacher, writer and storyteller widely known as the “Maître de la Parole,” has died in Dakar.
The founder and president of the Association of Senegalese Storytellers, known as Leeboon ci Leer, died during the night of Sunday, July 26, into Monday, July 27, 2026.
Senegal’s national news agency, APS, confirmed his death on Monday. Dr Massamba Guèye, founder of Kër Leyti and a prominent Senegalese storyteller, also paid tribute to Ndaak as a mentor, guide and protector.
Ndaak spent decades protecting Senegal’s oral traditions. Through teaching, writing, television and live performance, he presented storytelling as more than entertainment. For him, it was a way to educate children, preserve history and strengthen social values.
What was Babacar Mbaye Ndaak’s cause of death?
The medical cause of Babacar Mbaye Ndaak’s death had not been publicly announced at the time of publication.
APS, RTS and Emedia reported that he died in Dakar during the night of July 26–27, 2026. None of those reports identified an illness or another medical cause.
His exact age and funeral arrangements had also not been officially confirmed.
Who was Babacar Mbaye Ndaak?
Babacar Mbaye Ndaak was a Senegalese history and geography teacher, storyteller, writer and cultural trainer.
He became one of the country’s best-known defenders of oral heritage and was often called the “Maître de la Parole,” or “Master of the Word.”
Ndaak was born in Ngourane, in the historic Kajoor region of Senegal. He came from a family of tradition keepers and genealogists. Reports by RTS and Emedia said his father and paternal grandfather were custodians of this knowledge.
He grew up within the Wolof griot tradition, in which oral historians preserve community memory, genealogies, values and stories across generations.
Education and early life
Ndaak spent part of his childhood in Ngourane before moving to Dakar.
His education took him through Saint-Pierre-Julien-Eymard school, Fann-Gueule Tapée school and Lycée Blaise-Diagne. He later attended the University of Dakar and trained for the teaching profession at the École normale supérieure.
In a March 2026 interview with Le Soleil, Ndaak said he had wanted to become a teacher since his early years at Lycée Blaise-Diagne.
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He went on to teach history and geography. His approach extended beyond textbooks and classrooms. He encouraged students to learn from communities, local scholars and places connected to Senegalese history.
Ndaak organised educational trips to sites associated with figures including Kocc Barma Fall, Lat Dior, Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba and El Hadji Malick Sy. He believed direct contact with historic places helped young people understand that history belonged to real communities and living traditions.
Babacar Mbaye Ndaak’s sporting background
Before gaining national recognition as a storyteller, Ndaak also competed in sport.
According to the biographical account carried by Emedia, he won Senegalese school and university titles in the triple jump and long jump.
He also played basketball for Dakar Université Club, commonly known as DUC.
This part of his life is less documented than his teaching and cultural work, but it shows the range of interests he pursued as a student and young educator.
How storytelling became his life’s work
Ndaak treated oral storytelling as an educational system.
He believed stories could shape people who were just, honest, courageous and responsible. He also argued that schools should draw more deeply from local languages, oral knowledge and community experience.
“The mission of the storyteller is to educate,” he told Le Soleil in March 2026.
He travelled across Senegal to meet traditional storytellers and gather knowledge. His cultural work also took him to several African countries and beyond, including South Africa, Congo, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Germany and France.
In the Le Soleil interview, he described contributing ideas to a South African storytelling project that produced stories in local languages. The experience reflected his wider belief that oral traditions could remain relevant while adapting to new generations and new forms of communication.
Leeboon ci Leer and the training of storytellers
Babacar Mbaye Ndaak founded and led the Association of Senegalese Storytellers, Leeboon ci Leer.
Through the organisation, he helped restore storytelling to educational, cultural and artistic spaces. He trained generations of storytellers, actors and communicators and supported emerging performers.
His work connected traditional knowledge with formal education. Rather than presenting oral culture as something limited to the past, he used it as a practical tool for teaching values, history and social responsibility.
APS described him as one of Senegal’s leading defenders of narrative arts and the griot tradition. The agency said his work helped expand the influence of Senegalese oral culture beyond the country’s borders.
His work on Kott Kotti
Ndaak also reached a national audience through television.
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For 19 years, he presented the RTS children’s programme Kott Kotti, according to Le Soleil.
The programme introduced generations of Senegalese children to storytelling and gave oral tradition a place in modern broadcasting.
His long television career helped carry stories that were traditionally shared in homes and communities to a wider audience. It also strengthened his public identity as the “Maître de la Parole.”
Books and the Birago Diop storytelling prize
Ndaak published poetry, stories, elegies and other works connected to Senegalese and African oral heritage.
His published titles included Sooroor, Boroom Ndeer and Wax Sa Wax.
In 2018, the Association of Writers of Senegal awarded him the Prix Birago Diop du Conte, a storytelling prize named after Senegalese writer and oral-tradition scholar Birago Diop.
The award was also documented in a biographical profile by The Whole Life Academy, which described Ndaak as a writer and storyteller devoted to travelling, learning and transmitting Senegal’s heritage.
Babacar Mbaye Ndaak’s wife and children
Public reports provide limited information about Ndaak’s family.
In his tribute, Dr Massamba Guèye offered condolences to Ndaak’s wife, identified as Marème, and to their children. No reliable source reviewed for this report provided the children’s names or further private family details.
Those details should not be added unless they are confirmed by the family or another authoritative source.
Why Babacar Mbaye Ndaak’s work mattered
Ndaak’s work helped preserve knowledge that could otherwise disappear when elder storytellers die without recording or passing it on.
He did not treat oral tradition as a museum object. He brought it into schools, television, books, performance spaces and training programmes.
He also linked culture to citizenship. His stories and teaching encouraged young people to understand their history, respect their communities and think about the values needed to live together.
That combination of teacher, researcher, performer and cultural organiser made his contribution unusually broad.
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His death leaves a major gap in Senegal’s cultural community. However, his books, television work, students and the storytellers he trained will continue to carry his ideas forward.
Frequently asked questions
Is Babacar Mbaye Ndaak dead?
Yes. Babacar Mbaye Ndaak died in Dakar during the night of July 26–27, 2026. APS and several Senegalese media outlets confirmed his death.
What caused Babacar Mbaye Ndaak’s death?
His medical cause of death had not been officially disclosed at the time of publication.
How old was Babacar Mbaye Ndaak?
His exact age and date of birth have not been confirmed by a reliable public source.
Where was Babacar Mbaye Ndaak from?
He was from Ngourane in Senegal’s historic Kajoor region and later lived and studied in Dakar.
What did Babacar Mbaye Ndaak do?
He was a history and geography teacher, storyteller, writer, television presenter and cultural trainer. He founded and led Leeboon ci Leer, the Association of Senegalese Storytellers.
What was Leeboon ci Leer?
Leeboon ci Leer was the Association of Senegalese Storytellers founded and led by Ndaak. It promoted storytelling, trained performers and supported the transmission of oral heritage.
Which television programme did he present?
He presented the RTS children’s storytelling programme Kott Kotti for 19 years.
Which books did Babacar Mbaye Ndaak write?
Works attributed to him by Le Soleil include Sooroor, Boroom Ndeer and Wax Sa Wax.
Did Babacar Mbaye Ndaak receive an award?
Yes. He received the Prix Birago Diop du Conte from the Association of Writers of Senegal in 2018.
Was Babacar Mbaye Ndaak married?
Emedia’s report on Massamba Guèye’s tribute identified his wife as Marème and referred to their children. Further family information was not publicly verified.
Editorial Verification Report
Status: Confirmed
Confirmed facts:
Babacar Mbaye Ndaak died in Dakar during the night of July 26–27, 2026.
He was a professor of history and geography.
He was the founder and president of Leeboon ci Leer.
He came from Ngourane in the historic Kajoor region.
He came from a family associated with Wolof oral history and genealogy.
He attended Saint-Pierre-Julien-Eymard, Fann-Gueule Tapée, Lycée Blaise-Diagne and the University of Dakar.
He competed in the triple jump and long jump and played basketball for DUC.
He presented Kott Kotti for 19 years.
His published works included Sooroor, Boroom Ndeer and Wax Sa Wax.
He received the Prix Birago Diop du Conte in 2018.
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