Amadou Koné received the Doctorat de Troisième Cycle in Comparative Literature at the University of Tours. He received the Doctorat d'Etat ès Lettres at the University of Limonges. He joined the Georgetown University faculty in 1997. Before coming to Georgetown he was a professor of French at Tulane University in Loouisiana. From 1977 to 1990, he taught literature in his country at the Univeristy Nationale de Côte d'Ivoire, Abidjan in the Department of Modern Languages.

Amadou Koné's field of research and teaching extends from the oral literature of Africa to its modern written literature. Professor Koné has been particularly interested in the oral literary genres of Africa (initiation tales and epics) and in their influence on the modern novel. Since coming to Georgetown, he has continued to give courses on the literature and the cultures of Africa south of the Sahara.

Outside of teaching Professor Koné has received international recognition as an award winning author. In the 1976 his play Les Canaris sont vides won the grand prize at the Interafrican Theatrical Competition. He was the 1981 Fellow of the Pro Helvetia Foundation in Zurich, Switzerland; in 1985 he received the Best African Novel Award from the Léopold Sédar Senghor Foundation. From 1990 to 1992 Professor Koné was a Fellow of the Alexander Von-Humboldt Foundation in Bonn, Germany.

Professor Koné started his first novel while still finishing high school but was not published until later. Instead his first published book was released in 1976 and was titled Jusqu'au seuil de l'irréel. His earlier novel was then published under the title Les Frasques d'Ebinto. He has published a total of six novels, three plays and several short stories. He has published two studies on African oral literature and the novel. Professor Koné has co-published and anthology of literature from Côte d'Ivoire and has edited a collection of essays on African literature and cinema.