François-Joseph Amon d'Aby

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François-Joseph Amon d'Aby (1913–2007) was a French-speaking writer and theatre pioneer from the Ivory Coast. He worked in the government archives from 1937 and later became its director. He helped start Ivorian theatre, founding Le Théâtre Indigène de la Côte d'Ivoire in 1938 with Germain Coffi Gadeau, and the Cercle Culturel et Folklorique de la Côte d'Ivoire in 1953 with Gadeau and Bernard Dadié, as well as the Young Christian Workers' Association. His early plays drew on Ivorian oral stories, while later works mixed local traditions with European styles. His writing often carried a moral message and challenged old customs, such as matriarchy in Kwao Adjoba or clan parasitism in Entraves. Amon d'Aby also edited folk tales and wrote cultural and sociological studies about Côte d'Ivoire.