Kalista Sy

{{short description|Senegalese screenwriter}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

Kalista Sy (born about 1985) is a Senegalese screenwriter known for writing and producing the TV series {{interlanguage link|Mistress of a Married Man|qid=Q64547918}} (Maîtresse d'un homme marié, 2019–present). The series is set in Dakar and premiered on Marodi TV Sénégal in January 2019.

In January 2019 the first episode of Mistress of a Married Man aired on Marodi TV Sénégal and went viral in Africa on YouTube.{{Cite web|url=https://qz.com/africa/1621913/senegal-s-mistress-tv-soap-sparks-feminist-controversy/|title=How a Senegalese soap opera went viral across Africa by giving women an authentic voice|first=Ciku|last=Kimeria|website=Quartz Africa}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o365DwAAQBAJ&q=%22kalista+sy%22&pg=PT137|title=Basta!|first=Lilli|last=Gruber|date=October 24, 2019|publisher=Solferino|isbn=9788828203780|via=Google Books}}{{cite news |last1=Turkewitz |first1=Julie |title=Bold Women. Scandalized Viewers. It’s ‘Sex and the City,’ Senegal Style. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/22/world/africa/senegal-mistress-of-a-married-man.html |access-date=27 March 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=22 August 2019}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.thekenyanexplorer.com/blog/tag/Senegal|title=Senegal — BLOG|website=The Kenyan Explorer}}

Sy's show focuses on the lives of everyday Senegalese women.{{cite news |last1=Ba |first1=Salma Niasse |title='Mistress of a Married Man', the TV series that divides Senegal ('Maîtresse d’un homme marié', la série télé qui divise le Sénégal) |url=https://www.lemonde.fr/afrique/article/2019/06/09/maitresse-d-un-homme-marie-la-serie-tele-qui-divise-le-senegal_5473949_3212.html |access-date=27 March 2021 |work=Le Monde.fr |date=9 June 2019 |language=fr}} The show's storylines, including sex, infidelity, domestic abuse, and polygamy, which are not usually covered in Senegalese media, have resulted in controversy.{{cite web |title=The woman behind Senegal's Sex and the City |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p08d5dws |website=www.bbc.co.uk |publisher=BBC News - World Service}} The series' frank discussion of female sexual freedom led to Islamic clerics calling for it to be banned.{{Cite web|url=https://www.seneweb.com/news/Audio/laquo-maitresse-d-rsquo-un-homme-marie-r_n_277027.html|title="Maîtresse d'un homme marié" : Mame Mactar Guèye porte plainte contre Marodi TV et… | seneweb.com|date=December 27, 2019|website=Audio}}

Professor Marame Gueye wrote of Sy that, "Her female cast does not practice the widely accepted skin bleaching prominently featured in earlier series as the standard of beauty for Senegalese women. More importantly, the series puts women’s experiences at the center of its storyline. Marème and her cohort are ambitious women with jobs and their lives do not center exclusively on their relationships with men."{{Cite web|url=https://africasacountry.com/2019/04/senegals-fear-of-outspoken-women|title=Senegal's fear of outspoken women|website=africasacountry.com}}

In 2019, she was listed among the BBC's 100 Women.{{Cite web|url=https://www.pressafrik.com/La-scenariste-de-%C2%A0Maitresse-d-un-homme-marie%C2%A0-Kalista-Sy-parmi-les-100-femmes-les-plus-influentes-au-monde-selon-BBC_a206643.html|title='Mistress of a Married Man' screenwriter Kalista Sy among 100 most influential women in the world, says BBC|first=AYOBA|last=FAYE|website=PRESSAFRIK.COM, L'info dans toute sa diversité (Liberté - Professionnalisme - Crédibilité)}}{{Cite web|url=https://storybot.afryk.com/kalista-sy-sur-une-liste-de-femmes-les-plus-influentes-en-2019/|title=Kalista Sy sur une liste de femmes "les plus influentes en 2019" – StoryBot|website=storybot.afryk.com|access-date=27 December 2019|archive-date=27 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191227202650/https://storybot.afryk.com/kalista-sy-sur-une-liste-de-femmes-les-plus-influentes-en-2019/|url-status=dead}}

Sy is listed as a contributor to The Women Writers Handbook (2020).[https://www.aurorametro.com/product/women-writers-handbook/ Aurora Metro Books. Retrieved 4 June 2025.]

Sy lives in Dakar, Sengal and is married to Medoune Diop, a computer scientist. She is a former television journalist.