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