CHENJERAI HOVE

Chenjerai Hove (born 1956) is another great Zimbabwean and African writer. He was the 1989 Winner, Noma Award for Publishing In Africa, for his work, Bones. He has led a somewhat peripatetic life over the years, strutting his literary stuff in Europe and America; in tertiary institutions.

A novelist, poet, essayist, he has been quite prolific as a published author. His works over the years include - And Now the Poets Speak (co-editor; poetry), 1981, Up In Arms (poetry), Harare: Zimbabwe Publishing House, 1982, Red Hills of Home (poetry), 1984; Gweru: Mambo Press, 1985, Bones (novel), Harare: Baobab Books, 1988; Heineman, Shadows (novel), Harare: Baobab Books, 1991, Shebeen Tales: Messages from Harare (journalistic essays), Rainbows in the Dust (poetry), 1997, Guardians of the Soil (cultural reflections by Zimbabwe's elders), 1997, Ancestors (novel), 1997, Desperately Seeking Europe (co-author; essays on European identity), 2003, Palaver Finish, essays on politics and life in Zimbabwe, 2003, Blind Moon (poetry), 2004; and The Keys of Ramb (children's story), 2004

Studies:

In search of psychological worlds : on Yvonne Vera's and Chenjerai Hove's portrayal of women by Carita Backström

Dances with bones : Hove's romanticized Africa by Flora Veit-Wild

Thinking about nativism in Chenjerai Hove's work by Matthew Engelke 

NKEM NWANKWO

Another early, highly rated Nigerian writer (1936 – 2001) . He was a brilliant novelist, poet, and academic. He attended University College in Ibadan and later on taught at Michigan State University and Tennessee State University overseas. His first novel Danda was highly celebrated.

Mwankwo published other books in his lifetime; like My Mercedes is Bigger than Yours, Tales out of School, The Scapegoat, More tales out of school

GABRIEL OKARA

The Nigerian writer, Gabriel Okara, emerged as one of Africa's top poets many decades ago. His collection of poems, The fisherman's invocation, won the Commonwealth poetry prize in 1979. Okara's unique tone and evocations ensured universal respect for him.

His well known novel, The voice, added cubits to his literary reputation. The plight of Okolo, the naive, yet engaging protagonist of this work, added a haunting hue to African literature. Okara, born in 1921, published other books like - An adventure to Juju island,and  Little Snake and Little Frog.

Studies:

Nigeria's first novelists / By Bernth Lindfors 

A study of five Gabriel Okara's poems by Romanus N Egudu 

Okara na bumadi : for Gabriel Okara at 70 by Obiora Udechukwu

FLORA NWAPA

Flora Nwapa was the Nigerian equivalent of South Africa's Miriam Tlali in that she was the first Nigerian female writer to publish a novel; novels actually.

Her first novel was Efuru, followed by other works like – Idu, Never Again (1975), One is Enough (1981) Women are Different (1986), This is Lagos and Other Stories (1971), Cassava Song and Rice Song (1986), Wives at War and Other Stories (1980), Mammywater (1979), Journey to Space (1980) and The Adventures of Deke (1980). Flora Nwapa died in 1993.


Studies:

Emerging perspectives on Flora Nwapa : Critical and theoretical essays by Marie Umeh

Love, motherhood and the African heritage : the legacy of Flora Nwapa by Femi Nzegwu

Flora Nwapa : critical perspectives

SEFI ATTA

Sefi Atta, born in Lagos, Nigeria, is one of Africa's top female writers. Whilst known by most for her award-winning novel, Everything good will come, she has actually published a great deal, including drama.

Works churned out by Atta include - A Bit of Difference, Swallow, News from Home,  An Ordinary Legacy, The Naming Ceremony, The Cost of Living, Lagos Heritage Festival, and The Engagement,

REBEKA NJAU

Rebeka Njau began to write creatively from her schooldays. A revered Kenyan writer for decades, she wrote her play, The scar whilst in university in east Africa. Her works would focus on the strength, durability and mystical powers of women. African myths are also imaginatively explored in her writing.

Njau's novel, Ripples in the pool, is her best known work, though a later novel, The sacred seed, reinforces her literary reputation. Other published works are – The hypocrite and other stories, Kenyan women heroes and their mystical powers.

Studies:

Between Rites and Rights: Excision in Women's Experiential Texts and
Human Contexts by Chantal J. Zabus (Stanford University Press; Literary Criticism)

MIRIAM TLALI

Miriam Tlali, born in South Africa at the time apartheid took a grim toll on blacks, has entered the history books as the first black woman to publish a novel in the country - Muriel at metropolitan - and it is a very fine work too!

The story of how Tlali finally managed to publish the book during those daunting times is a triumph on its own...but she has published other works over the years, including – Amandla, Mihloti, Soweto Stories, and Footprints in the Quag

Studies:

Grappling with patriarchies : narrative strategies of resistance in
Miriam Tlali's writings by Christina Cullhed

Writing as transformational : a Marxist feminist analysis of Miriam
Tlali's works by Mante Mphahlele 

NAGUIB MAHFOUZ

Naguib Mahfouz, who died in 2006, was an astonishing writer who put Arabic writing, specifically Egyptian literature on the map. His extraordinary output of creative works was supplemented by the quality of his writing. Some criticised him for writing on topics like drugs and prostitution, but this only highlighted his broad canvas despite being part of a largely conservative society.

He was the first Arabic writer to win the Nobel award for literature. Some of his published works (translated into English) are – Old Egypt (1932), Whisper of Madness (1938),Rhadopis of Nubia, Cairo Modern, Midaq Alley, The Mirage (1948), Palace Walk (1956), Palace of Desire (1957), Sugar Street, The Thief and the Dogs (1961), The Search (1964), The Honeymoon (1971), Love under the rain, Respected Sir, Love and the Veil (1980)  Wedding Song (1981), Fountain and Tomb (1988), The Seventh Heaven (2005)

Studies:

al-Duktūr Najīb Maḥfūẓ, tabīb amrāḍ al-nisāʼ wa-al-wilādah, takrīm wa-taqdīr by Yūsuf Sumaykah

Naguib Mahfouz by Rasheed El-Enany

Critical perspectives on Naguib Mahfouz edited by Trevor Le Gassik

CHARLES MUNGOSHI

Zimbabwe's Charles Mungoshi has been a rare literary talent for decades. His versatile writings - comprising novels, short stories, poetry - continue to enthral many readers. He has garnered many awards for his works.

Mungoshi writes in both English and the Shona language. His published works include – Waiting for the rain, Coming of the dry season, The milkman does not only deliver milk, Some kinds of wounds and other stories, Walking Still, Stories from a Shona childhood, The setting sun and the rolling world, Ndiko kupindana kwamavuza

Studies:

Realism in Charles Mungoshi's novels. By Farayi Nyandoro

Charles Mungoshi : a bilingual Zimbabwean novelist. By Elena Zúbková
Bertoncini

ALEX LA GUMA

For aficionados of the works of the late South African writer, Alex La Guma, they can easily point to his accomplished works of fiction or prose - A walk in the night, And a Threefold chord, The Stone-Country, In the Fog of the Season’s End, A Soviet Journey, and Time of the Butcherbird.

But this is only a small part of the story, as it were. Alex was a scion of a remarkable family of “coloured” activists from the western Cape. His first work, A walk in the night was initially published far away in Nigeria (by Mbari). Alex La Guma went on to spend many years in exile, and live in, or visit many countries around the world. His legacy as an excellent writer is assured, though.


Studies:

Alex La Guma by Cecil Anthony Abrahams 

Alex La Guma : politics and resistance by Nahem Yousaf 

The novels of Alex La Guma : the representation of a political
conflict by Kathleen M Balutansky

Alex la Guma : a literary & political biography by Roger Field 

Liberation Chabalala : the world of Alex La Guma 

Alex La Guma : the literary and political functions of marginality in
the colonial situation by Abdul R JanMohamed

Aleks La Guma by Stanislav Petrovich Kartuzov

Alex La Guma : the man and his work by S. O Asein 

NIYI OSUNDARE

Niyi Osundare, the Nigerian literary critic and academic, is one of Africa's finest poets. He has won many awards thanks to his proficiency in poetry, including the Commonwealth writers' gong. Osundare is also a dramatist of note.

He has published many books over the decades, including - Songs from the Marketplace (1983), Village Voices (1984), The Eye of the Earth, Songs of the Season (1999), Waiting Laughters (1990, winner of the Noma Award), Selected Poems (1992), Midlife (1993), Thread in the Loom: Essays on African Literature and Culture (2002), The State Visit (2002, play), Early Birds (2004), Two Plays (2005), Tender Moments: Love Poems (2006)

Studies:

Songs for the thrush : poems of diamond celebration for Niyi Osundare

The poetry and poetics of Niyi Osundare

The poet as activist : Niyi Osundare versus Wole Soyinka by Chris
Anyokwu

Sexual discourse in Niyi Osundare's poetry : a socio-linguistic
reading by Samson A Dare 

Context of situation and a poet's choice of words : the examples of
Dennis Brutus and Osundare by Alex A Maiyanga

The development of Niyi Osundare's poetry : a survey of themes and
technique by Aderemi Baminkunle

Niyi Osundare's poetry and the Yoruba oral artistic tradition by
Aderemi James Bamikunle 

AMINATA SOW FALL

Aminata Sow Fall is another Senegalese female writer who has made her mark in the world of letters. She writes in French and has been recognised for her talented works. Substantial studies have focused on her by the likes of Gueye Medoune.

Aminata Sow Fall's most famous work is La Greve des battu, which has been made into a film. Other books include le Revenant, and l'Appel de arenes.

Studies:

Emerging perspectives on Aminata Sow Fall : the real and the
imaginary in her novels

Aminata Sow Fall, oralité er société dans l'œuvre romanesque by
Médoune Guèye 

At the crossroads : adolescence in the novels of Mariama Ba, Aminta
Sow Falls, Ken Bugul and Khadi Fall by Faustine Ama Boateng

(Re)productions of self : colonialism, infanticide, and autobiography
in the works of Mariama Bâ, Aminata Sow Fall, and Marguerite Duras by
Mary-Kay F Miller

Social criticism in the novels of Aminata Sow Fall by I Mojola

Revalorization of traditional practices in the novels of Aminata Sow
Fall by Cathleen Waters

Oralité et écriture dans l'œuvre romanesque de Aminata Sow Fall by
Melle Mareme Ba 

RICHARD RIVE

Richard Rive, from the beginning of his literary career back in the sixties, signalled to the world that he was a special, confident talent. This South African writer and academic went on to study even further in America and England - subsequently delivering lectures in universities around the world.

His published work included short stories and novels – Modern African Prose, Advance, Retreat, Emergency, Buckingham Palace, District 6; Writing Black, Quartet, African Songs, Olive Schreiner. Sadly, Rive was murdered in 1989 at his home base, Cape Town.

Studies:

Richard Rive : a select bibliography by Jayarani Raju 

Buckingham Palace', District Six, by Richard Rive : a study guide : to
be used in conjunction with 'Buckingham Palace, District Six' by
Richaed [sic] Rive

A rival protest : the life and work of Richard Rive, a South African
writer by Daryl Robert Lee 

Robert Serumaga discusses the works of Richard Rive, Aug. 1966.
by Robert Serumaga (Recording)

Drum magazine(1951-1961) and the works of black South African writers
associated with it by David Rabkin 

GRACE OGOT

Grace Ogot (born in 1934) has for about half a century been respected as east Africa's greatest female writer. Born in Kenya, she has distinguished herself in many genres, including politics and broadcasting. Some of her books were published in the Luo language.

Her writings have been praised for their vivid, realistic descriptions and depictions, including bringing out the essence of dignified African traditions.

Her books include Aloo kod Apul-Apul (1981) in Luo,  The Graduate, Nairobi,  The Island of Tears (short stories), Land Without Thunder; short stories, (Nairobi: East African Publishing House, 1968), The Other Woman: selected short stories, The Promised Land: a novel, and The Strange Bride translated from Dholuo.

Her latest book, Days of My Life: An Autobiography (2012), has also been successfully published.

Studies:

Social dynamics in the short stories of Grace Ogot by Adaku T Ankumah

Talking gender : conversations with Kenyan women writers ( Book )

Kenya, Nairobi, Interview with Grace Ogot, 1974 ( Recording )


Women and African literature by Marion Kilson 

TABAN LO LIYONG

Taban lo Liyong, born in Uganda, has made his name over the decades as a "literary iconoclast". He has steadfastly advocated the primacy of African languages and oral traditions over the western canon. This great academic has lectured in many universities around the world.

He has published striking fiction and poetry, yet it is his pungent literary essays that continue to mark him out. A rather prolific author, his published books include – The Last Word (1969), Meditations in Limbo (1970), Franz Fanon’s Uneven Ribs (1971), Another Nigger Dead (1972), Ballads of Underdevelopment (1976), and Another Last Word (1990)

Studies:

Echoes of modernism in Taban lo Liyong's Frantz Fanon's uneven ribs by
James O Esamagidi 

Taban lo Liyong of Sudan (Recording)

MONGO BETI

Mongo Beti, the Cameroonian writer, who died in 2001, was a remarkable wordsmith. He spent over 30 years in exile, initially decrying the effects of colonialism, then his disillusionment with the post-colonial era. His writings show his commitment to African values, and importance of press freedom.

His most celebrated work was probably Mission to Kala – (The English translation) - but Beti published many other books, including - Le pauvre Christ de Bomba, Le roi miraculé : chronique des Essazam, Perpétue et l'habitude du malheur

, Peuples noirs, peuples africains, Les langues africaines et le néo-colonialisme en Afrique francophone, (1982). Les deux mères de Guillaume Ismaël Dzewatama, futur camionneu,  La revanche de Guillaume Ismaël Dzewatama, and  Lettre ouverte aux Camerounais, or, La deuxième mort de Ruben Um Nyobé, (1986).

Studies:

Critical perspectives on Mongo Beti

Mongo Beti, ecrivain camerounais by Roger Mercier