A Story of His Own: Madikay Ndiaye ’26 Publishes Debut Novel

At Cannon School, creativity shows up in all kinds of places, but for senior Madikay Ndiaye ’26, it’s taken him somewhere pretty extraordinary: all the way to publishing his first novel.

Madikay, who joined Cannon as a sophomore, is a familiar presence across campus. Whether competing in wrestling meets, sprinting on the track, performing on stage, or contributing to The Ink literary journal, he has immersed himself in a wide range of activities. But at his core, he’s always seen himself as a writer and an artist at heart. That passion goes all the way back to fifth grade, when he first started getting serious about storytelling.

Inspiration can come from unexpected places, and Madikay is quick to laugh when he shares his own: the television series Riverdale. What began as casual entertainment sparked his curiosity and led him to start writing short stories, laying the foundation for what would eventually become his debut novel, The Mirror of Narcissus, now published and available through Amazon.

He began writing the novel in June 2025, driven by a desire to push his craft to the next level. A key influence during this period was his Upper School English teacher, Richard Smith. In Smith’s AT Literature class, Madikay found both encouragement and freedom to experiment with his voice and style. One book in particular, As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner, ended up being a turning point. It helped him think differently about how to structure a story and how to bring multiple perspectives and personalities to life.

His own novel follows a young bartender named Leon, a narcissist, and his relationship with a painter named Gaetana, a pathological liar. Primarily, the novel focuses on how different personalities interact and sometimes clash. It’s a story driven by character, something Madikay became especially interested in as his writing evolved. The book itself is also a collaborative effort in a way: its cover art was created by his classmate, Gabriel Lopez ’26, adding another layer of Cannon creativity to the final product.

The process of writing The Mirror of Narcissus wasn’t easy. It took about nine months, with lots of drafts and rewrites along the way. “Starting was the hardest part,” he says. To stay on track, he set a goal of writing 800 words a day. Balancing that with school, sports, and everything else wasn’t simple, but his commitment to the story kept him going.

Now that the book is out in the world, the feeling is still hard to believe. “Expected, but surreal,” is how he describes it. Madikay recently shared his journey during his senior Capstone presentation, drawing a packed audience of around 60 people into the library annex. There, he spoke not only about the technical aspects of writing but also about its deeper purpose, posing a central question: What does it mean to create?

For Madikay, it means adding something meaningful to the world. As he put it, creating is about making the world better by contributing to it, not taking away from it. That idea connects to his favorite quote: “The earth is just a rock without the voices of art.”

Looking back, he says the biggest shift for him was mental. “It’s the difference between belief and knowledge,” he explains. “Once I stopped believing I would write a book and started knowing I would finish it, everything changed.”

As for what’s next, Madikay is still figuring that out, but he knows writing will be part of it. He’s interested in majoring in creative writing and continuing to grow as an artist.

The Mirror of Narcissus is now available online.