Emmanuel Boundzéki Dongala (born 1941) is a Congolese

Republic of the Congo

The Republic of the Congo , sometimes known locally as Congo-Brazzaville, is a state in Central Africa. It is bordered by Gabon, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo , the Angolan exclave province of Cabinda, and the Gulf of Guinea.The region was dominated by...

 chemist

Chemistry

Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....

 and novelist. He is currently Richard B. Fisher Chair in Natural Sciences at Bard College at Simon's Rock.

In 1997, he was dean of the Marien Ngouabi University

Marien Ngouabi University

Marien Ngouabi University is the only state-funded university in the Republic of Congo. It is located in the capital of Brazzaville.-History:...

 in Brazzaville when war broke out in Congo-Brazzaville. Bard President Leon Botstein

Leon Botstein

Leon Botstein is an American conductor and the President of Bard College . Botstein is the music director and principal conductor of the American Symphony Orchestra and conductor laureate of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, where he served as music director and principal conductor from 2003-2010...

, who has aided a number of refugee professors, offered him a job teaching chemistry at the American college.

As a chemist, his specialty is stereochemistry

Stereochemistry

Stereochemistry, a subdiscipline of chemistry, involves the study of the relative spatial arrangement of atoms within molecules. An important branch of stereochemistry is the study of chiral molecules....

 and asymmetric synthesis, as well as environmental toxicology

Environmental toxicology

Environmental toxicology, also known as entox, is a multidisciplinary field of science concerned with the study of the harmful effects of various chemical, biological and physical agents on individual living organisms...

.

He is the author of a number of award-winning novels including Johnny Mad Dog

Johnny Mad Dog

Johnny Mad Dog is a 2008 French/Liberian film directed by Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire, based on the novel Johnny Chien Méchant by the Congolese author Emmanuel Dongala, and starring Christopher Minie, Daisy Victoria Vandy, Dagbeh Tweh, Barry Chernoh, Mohammed Sesay and Joseph Duo.It follows a group of...

(French: Johnny Chien Méchant) and Little Boys Come from the Stars. His work is featured in the Penguin Book of Modern African Poetry

Penguin Book of Modern African Poetry

The Penguin Book of Modern African Poetry , is a 1984 poetry anthology edited by Gerald Moore and Ulli Beier. It consists mainly of poems written in English and English translations of French or Portuguese poetry; poems written in African languages were included only in the authors' translations...

, and he has been the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship

Guggenheim Fellowship

Guggenheim Fellowships are American grants that have been awarded annually since 1925 by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts." Each year, the foundation makes...

.

He was winner of the 2004 Cezam Prix Littéraire Inter CE

Cezam Prix Littéraire Inter CE

The Cezam Prix Litteraire Inter CE is a literary prize which was established in France in 1997. Its judging panel of more than 3600 readers who meet in groups to discuss, critique and individually rate the books, makes it one of the largest adjudicated readers' prizes for literature in the world...

for Johnny chien méchant.