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Malidoma Patrice Somé (born 1956) is a West African writer. He was born in Dano, Burkina Faso, among the Dagara.

He was kidnapped at the age of four by Jesuit missionaries, raised in their boarding school, and given an education. The missionaries were attempting train black Africans who might go to Christianity. He did not escape the missionary school until he was twenty, by which time he had forgotten his native language. In order to be able to communicate with his people, he underwent an arduous process of "relearning". He took part in a month-long Dagara initiation process.

The Dagara believe that each person is born with a destiny, and he or she is given a name that reflects that destiny. The name Malidoma means "become friends with the stranger/enemy". Malidoma Patrice Somé believes it is his destiny to come to a western audience in friendship and tell them about his experience of being torn away from his people by westerners. His book, Of Water and the Spirit, is his attempt to describe that journey from outsider to mediator between two worlds.

Somé holds three Master's degrees and two doctorates from the Sorbonne and Brandeis University. He has taught at the University of Michigan.

Somé conducts seminars and retreats in Oregon and throughout the world.

This author page uses material from the Wikipedia article "Malidoma Patrice Some", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0