SHIMMER CHINODYA

Shimmer Chinodya is an award winning Zimbabwean writer, essentially recognized as a powerful novelist.  He studied English and education at the University of Zimbabwe, and from the University of Iowa, with an MA in Creative Writing. He garnered acclaim whilst winning the 1990 Commonwealth Writers' Prize, Africa region.  His first novel, Dew in the Morning was published in 1982. His work, Strife landed him the 2008 Noma award for literature.

Chinodya has also written children’s books, educational texts, training manuals and radio and film scripts, including the script for the award-winning feature film, Everyone’s Child. His published works include: Dew in the Morning (1982), Farai’s Girls (1984), Child of War (1986), Harvest of Thorns (1989), Can we talk and other Stories (1998), Tale of Tamari (2004), Chairman of Fools (2005), Strife, and Tindo's Quest.

OUSMANE SEMBENE

 

Ousmane Sembène (1923 – 2007) from Senegal was one of the greatest authors in African history. His early novel was Le Docker Noir (The Black Docker, 1956. His second novel was  O Pays, mon beau peuple! (Oh country, my beautiful people!, 1957), Sembène's masterpiece is Les Bouts de Bois de Dieu (God’s bits of Wood) although the later Xala was also acclaimed. His last novel was Le Dernier de l’empire (The Last of the Empire, 1981) which depicted corruption and an eventual military coup in a newly independent African nation.

Les Bouts de Bois de Dieu in particular cemented Sembène as one of the most outstanding African writers. Sembene was to state that alas, he realized that his written works would only be read by a relatively small elite and he decided to become a film maker; which he did with extraordinary success.

Published works:

Le Docker noir (novel) translated as The Black Docker

O Pays, mon beau peuple! (novel) - 1957

Les bouts de bois de Dieu (novel) - 1960; translated as God's Bits of

Wood.

Voltaïque (short stories) translated as Tribal Scars 1975.

L’Harmattan (novel)

Le mandat, précédé de Vehi-Ciosane translated as The Money-Order with White Genesis

Xala

Le dernier de l'Empire- L'Harmattan, 1981; translated as The Last of the Empire

Niiwam translated as Niiwam and Taaw:

Studies:

Ousmane Sembène écrivain populaire by Hilaire Sikounmo 

Ousmane Sembène the making of a militant artist by Samba Gadjigo 

A new kind of man the representation and significance of women in the
works of Ousmane Sembene by Dwayne Marshall Baker 

KAMA SYWOR KAMANDA

Kama Sywor Kamanda from the Democratic Republic of Congo (born 1952) published his first book at the tender age of 15! Over the years he was to publish numerous works like novels, short stories, poetry, essays etc. He has lived in many European countries. He revels in literary festivals, conferences, meets, including poetry readings. His multiple awards include the Paul Verlaine Prize from the Academie francaise, the Black Africa Grand Prize for Literature and Master Diploma for Specialty Honors in Writing, and World Academy of Letters, United States of America (2006)

His published works include: Lointaines sont les rives du destin, La Traversée des mirages, La Joueuse de Kora, Les Contes des veillées africaines, Les Contes du crépuscule, Contes (Les œuvres complètes) Contes africains (Grund),Chants de brumes, Éclipse d’étoiles, L’Exil des songes, L’Étreinte des mots, Le Sang des solitudes, Oeuvre poétique (édition intégrale), 2008, and Au-delà de Dieu, au-delà des chimères, (essay).


Studies:

Kama Kamanda, poète de l'exil by Pierrette Sartin 

Kama Kamanda au pays du conte by Marie-Claire de Coninck 

Kama Sywor Kamanda : regards critiques

Kama Sywor Kamanda : chantre de la mémoire égyptienne by Isabelle Cata

La traversée initiatique étude sémantico-structurale de La somme du néant de Kama Kamanda by Yanick Morin

 

HELON HABILA

Helon Habila is another highly respected Nigerian writer. Born in 1967, he was African Writing Fellow at the University of East Anglia in England. In 2002 he published the first edition of his first novel, Waiting for an Angel. He has garnered many laurels including the Caine Prize in 2001. In 2005/2006 he became the Chinua Achebe Fellow at Bard College, NY. Measuring Time, his second novel came out in 2007. Oil on water is his third novel. He has also published an anthology titled The Granta Book of the African Short Story (2011)

His acclaimed works are: Waiting for an Angel: A Novel, (2004), New Writing 14, (2006), Measuring Time: A Novel, (2007), Oil on Water: A Novel (2010); The Granta Book of the African Short Story (2011)

NURUDDIN FARAH

Nuruddin Farah, from Somalia, has attracted tremendous critical attention over the decades. His early works like A naked needle, were highly acclaimed. He worked for the Ministry of Education in his country before studying further at international institutions around the world in countries like India and England. This cosmopolitan literary giant has lived and lectured around the world.

His published books include 

Why Die So Soon? (1965), A Dagger in a Vacuum, (play),From a Crooked Rib (1970) A Naked Needle,  Sweet and Sour Milk , Sardines, Close Sesame, Maps (1986),Gifts (1993), Secrets (1998),Territories (2000),Yesterday, Tomorrow: Voices from the Somali Diaspora (2000), Links (2004), Knots (2007), Crossbones (2011).

Studies: 

Nuruddin Farah by Patricia Alden

Beyond empire and nation : postnational arguments in the fiction of
Nuruddin Farah and B. Kojo Laing by Francis Ngaboh-Smart

The novels of Nuruddin Farah by Derek Wright

Tradition, anomaly and the wave for the future : Somali oral
literature, Nuruddin Farah and written Somali prose fiction by Ali
Jimale Ahmed 

Focus on Nuruddin Farah : the 1998 Neustadt Prize ( Book )

PETER ABRAHAMS

Peter Abrahams occupies a special position in African literature, as arguably the first black writer - hailing from South Africa – to publish imaginative works which were internationally recognised.  Indeed, over the decades his work has been studied in many schools and tertiary institutions around the world. Many of the early outstanding African writers were inspired by his body of work.

 His published works over the many decades include - Dark Testament (1942), Song of the City (1945), Mine Boy (1946), The Path of Thunder (1948), Wild Conquest (1950), Return to Goli (1953), Tell Freedom (1954), A Wreath for Udomo (1956), A Night of Their Own (1965), This Island Now (1966), The View from Coyaba (1985), The Black Experience in the 20th Century: An  Autobiography and Meditation (2000)


Studies:

The writing of Peter Abrahams. By Kolawole Ogungbesan

Peter Abrahams. By Michael Wade

The novels of Peter Abrahams and the rise of nationalism in Africa. By Robert Ensor

Art and politics in the novels of Peter Abrahams: a study of his three political novels. By Clive Philip Leeman

The death of African kings: the novels of Peter Abrahams. By Ngwarsungu Chiwengo

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