STANLAKE SAMKANGE

STANLAKE J. W. T SAMKANGE (died 1988) was a rather early Zimbabwean writer who churned out novels, essays, miscellaneous writings, and other illuminating if at times polemical work. Best known for his historical novel, On Trial for my Country, Samkange was an early pioneer and visionary who initially studied in his native Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia), South Africa (Fort Hare University), and overseas (Indiana University, Bloomington). Samkange lectured in many American universities before pursuing a career in politics whilst back in Zimbabwe.

Apart from On Trial for my Country (1966), Samkange published many other works; including Origins of Rhodesia (1968), African Saga (1970), Hunhuism or Ubuntuism (1980), The Mourned One (1968), Year of the Uprising (1978), Among them Yanks (1985), and On Trial for that UDI (1986)

Studies

History and fiction: a study of the interface between historical record and imaginative reconstruction in the novels of Stanlake Samkange – by Neville James Smith

The Struggle to become Zimbabwe – by James Currey

FEMI OSOFISAN

Femi Osofisan is a formidable academic and fecund writer. One of Nigeria's many superb writers, for decades he has been a critic of pertinent societal problems. His use of "African traditional performances and surrealism in his works" has also been commended over the years. Many pundits assert that he is somewhat of a didactic writer whose works seek to correct a prurient, sick society. He did post-graduate studies at the University of Ibadan (Nigeria) where he has held pivotal faculty positions for many years.

His published works include: Kolera Kolej, The Chattering and the Song, Morountodun and Other Plays, Minted Coins (poetry), Another Raft, Once upon Four Robbers, Twingle-Twangle A-Twynning Tayle, Yungba-Yungba and the Dance Contest: A Parable for Our Times, The Album of the Midnight Blackout, Tegonni: An African Antigone



Studies

Ancient songs set ablaze : the theatre of Femi Osofisan by Sandra L Richards 

Emerging perspectives on Femi Osofisan 

The drama of Femi Osofisan : a critical perspective by Muyiwa P Awodiya 

Théâtre et société Fémi Osofisan et S.A. Zinsou : étude comparée by Juliana Omoifo-Okoh 

Portraits for an eagle : essays in honour of Femi Osofisan 

Femi Osofisan : the form of uncommon sense by Tejumola Olaniyan 

Visions of myth in Nigerian drama : Femi Osofisan versus Wole Soyinka by Osonye Tess Onwueme 

ASARE KONADU

Asare Konadu (1932– 1994) the late Ghanaian writer is probably most famous for two of his works, Ordained by the Oracle, and A Woman in his prime. Yet this journalist, novelist and publisher churned out a great deal of books. Asare studied at Abuakwa State College prior to working at the Ghana Information Service. He went on to study in London and at Strasbourg University,

His published books include: Wizard of Asamang, The Lawyer Who Bungled His Life, Come Back Dora: a husband's confession and ritual, Shadow of Wealth, Accra, Don't Leave me MERCY, A Husband for Esi Ellua, A Woman in Her Prime, Night Watchers of Korlebu, Ordained by the Oracle, 1969. Devils in Making, and The Coup Makers.

Studies

Asare Konadu and his two levels of (popular) literature by Leif Lorentzon

DILLIBE ONYEAMA

The writing career of Dillibe Onyeama, a Nigerian, has straddled five decades - though he was only born in 1951. Author of the famous book, Nigger at Eton, Onyeama was reputed to be the first Black African to study at that institution (Eton College). He went on to publish over twenty books and has contributed prodigiously to African publishing after returning back to Nigeria.

His other published books, over the decades, include John Bull’s Nigger (1974), African Legend, The Return, Juju (novel) Secret Society, Boomerang (short stories), Notes of a so-called Afro-Saxon, Godfathers of Voodoo, Female Target, The Night Demon, The New Man, Revenge of the Medicine Man, Book of Black Man’s Humour; and God, Sex and the English man (2012). Readers of Onyeama’s books insist that in works like Juju, he matches the best of Eurocentric mystery/thriller fiction.

Studies:

Bearing Witness: Readers, Writers, and the Novel in Nigeria by Wendy Grisworld

MAZISI KUNENE

Mazisi (Raymond) Kunene (1930 – 2006) was an exceedingly distinguished
South African poet best known for his astonishing epic poem (book)
Emperor Shaka the Great. Before his death he was acknowledged as
African, and South African poet laureate.

From a very early age, Kunene began writing poetry and short stories
in Zulu, and later on his output became out of  this world. He studied
at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London and was closely
affiliated with the African National Congress, acknowledged as their
main representative in Europe and the United States in 1962. His works
were written originally in Zulu and then translated into English.
UNESCO made him Africa's poet laureate in 1993, and in 2005 he became
the poet laureate of South Africa.

His published works include:

Zulu Poems (1970) Emperor Shaka the Great: A Zulu Epic (1979) Anthem
of the Decades: A Zulu Epic Dedicated to the Women of Africa (1981)
The Ancestors and the Sacred Mountain: Poems (1982), Isibusiso
Sikamhawu, Indida Yamancasakazi, Amalokotho Kanomkhubulwane, Umzwilili
wama-Afrika, Kagiso, Igudu lika Somcabeko.

Studies:

Myth, history and politics in Mazisi Kunene's epic poetry by Ernest
Mathabela 

Orality versus literacy in Mazisi Kunene's Emperor Shaka the Great by
Wole Ogundele )

Literary portraits of Chaka : Thomas Mofolo and Mazisi Kunene by
Charles Bodunde 

FRANCIS SELORMEY

Francis Selormey (1927 - 1983) will probably always be remembered for his excellent novel, The Narrow Path. Selormey, a Ghanaian, was a novelist, teacher, scriptwriter and sports administrator. He attended a Catholic primary school, and then St. Augustine's College, Cape Coast. He went on to study further at the University of Ghana and in Germany before becoming a teacher. He was an excellent Sports administrator. The Narrow Path: An African Childhood, was hailed by pundits as rather semi-autobiographical; a Bildungsroman of a Ghanaian school boy who is "caught between his love for an overly strict father who insists on Christian, Western ways and his own appreciation for other, traditional influences."

Studies:

European-language Writing in Sub-Saharan Africa (Volume 2) by Albert S. Gerard

CHRISTOPHER OKIGBO

     

       

Christopher Okigbo (1930–1967) was an early Nigerian poet, now widely acknowledged as the outstanding post-colonial English-language African poet; and one of the major modernist writers of the twentieth

century. He died prematurely during the Nigerian Civil war. As a youth Okigbo felt a special affinity to his maternal grandfather, a priest of Idoto, an Igbo deity personified in the river of the same name that flowed through his village. Later in life, Okigbo came to believe that his grandfather's soul was reincarnated in him, and the "water goddess" figures prominently in his fecund poetry . Okigbo studied at the famous University College in Ibadan, graduating ultimately in Classics. He later helped to found the African Authors Association. He was also West African Representative of Cambridge University Press at Ibadan. . His published books (some posthumously) are  Heavensgate (1962)  Limits (1964) Labyrinths (1971), 

Collected poems (1986), and Crossroads (2008).

Studies:

The trial of Christopher Okigbo by Ali AlʼAmin Mazrui 

Christopher Okigbo: creative rhetoric by Sunday Ogbonna Anozie 

Critical perspectives on Christopher Okigbo 

Critical essays on Christopher Okigbo 

Christopher Okigbo, 1930-67 : thirsting for sunlight by Obi Nwakanma 

Kamau Brathwaite and Christopher Okigbo : art, politics, and the music of ritual by Curwen Best 

Hybridity and Christopher Okigbo's poetry by Christopher W. N Kirunda 

Nationalism in Okigbo's poetry by Dubem Okafor 

Two African Prodigals : Senghor and Okigbo by Jonathan Ngate 

Folk tradition in Okigbo's poetry by Emma Ngumoha