Marguerite Abouet (born 1971) is an Ivorian writer of bandes dessinées, best known for her graphic novel series Aya and Akissi.

Abouet had tried to write novels for young people, but she gave up in frustration with what she perceived to be the constraints put on the genre by the publishers.

In addition to her writing, she runs Des livres pour tous (Books for All), an organization that builds and supports libraries in Africa to promote literacy education for African children.

[6] Her characters attend school, trudge to work, plan for the future and are ensnared in domestic entanglements in Ivory Coast in the same way as happens everywhere else.

[11] According to the New York Times, Aya book sales surged during the George Floyd protests, and that the series is experiencing a revival worldwide, especially in the French-speaking African diaspora.