Senegal has a rich literary tradition in French, and several essential works are short enough to read before or during your trip.
So Long a Letter by Mariama Bâ (1979) is the place to start. Written as a letter from a Dakar woman to her friend, it addresses polygamy, grief, and women's autonomy in Senegalese society with a directness that still cuts. It remains the best-selling novel in West African literary history.
Ambiguous Adventure by Cheikh Hamidou Kane (1961) follows a young Fulani man torn between his Islamic upbringing and a French colonial education. Spare, melancholy, and philosophically serious — one of the great African novels of the twentieth century.
God's Bits of Wood by Ousmane Sembène (1960) is a novelization of the 1947–48 Dakar–Niger railway strike. Sembène, who was also Senegal's greatest filmmaker, writes about collective resistance with panoramic scope. A vivid portrait of the country before independence.
Xala by Ousmane Sembène (1973) is shorter and funnier — a satirical take on the Senegalese bourgeoisie after independence. He adapted it into a film the following year.
Longing to Belong: An Outsider at Home in Senegal by Pamela Spencer Hambrick is a readable memoir of expatriate life in Dakar, good for a sense of daily rhythms and social texture.
For birdwatchers, Birds of Senegal and the Gambia by Nik Borrow and Ron Demey is the standard field guide. Indispensable if you are heading to Djoudj or the Sine-Saloum.