Jack Mapanje returns to his concern for ordinary people in Africa and in the world at large. These new poems are boldly lyrical narratives, cunningly crafted in mesmerising spirals. His voice is still ironically cheerful, his tone impotently angry but confidently measured with wit and humour, however bleak. He fears the saying 'once a prisoner always a prisoner', and questions why prisons refuse to go away. 64pp, UK. BLOODAXE BOOKS.

Collection spanning thirty years of writing, a period highlighted by great socio-political change in Malawi. 128pp, MALAWI. KACHERE SERIES.

Nine new plays from Du Chisiza, Gertrude Kamkwatira, Innocent Kommwa, Smith Likonge and Mufunanji Magalasi. 172pp, MALAWI. CHANCELLOR COLLEGE PUBLICATIONS.

This is a modern rendition in written form, of the popular Malawian trickster folktale, 'The Orphan and the Slave'. The traditional version, included alongside this modern work of fiction, tells of a boy who is orphaned, and returns to his village, taking his slave with him. The slave tricks the boy into giving him his possessions, and assumes his master's identity. When his family realise the truth, the deceptive and worthless slave is punished as he is torn into pieces and thrown into the river. In the modern retelling of the tale the orphaned boy, Dzunzo loves his slave, who has taught him much about the natural world. When the relatives find out the true identities of the boys, they are very angry, tie up the slave in a granary and threaten to kill him. In the modern story however, the orphan recognises the slave's good character and decides to free him. 82pp, MALAWI.

Damning collection of poetry indicting the regime that imprisoned him in Malawi, it includes poems written after his release. x, 97pp, UK. [HEINEMANN AFRICAN WRITERS SERIES.

Satirical novel of life under Banda in the 1970s. 172pp, UK. HEINEMANN AFRICAN WRITERS SERIES.

1974 0435901621 Paperback

Satirical poems inspired by Malawian folktales and Orwell's Animal Farm. Gloss, 104pp, MALAWI. WASI PUBLICATIONS.

2005 9990848149 Paperback

Contains a variety of excerpts and genres by writers in prison and explores themes of asylum, immigration and human rights, before and after independence. Contributors range from Jomo Kenyatta to Ken Saro-Wiwa. 328pp, UK. African Writers Series.

Short stories concerned with the tragic impact of HIV/AIDs on Malawi. Gloss, 67pp, MALAWI. WASI PUBLICATIONS.

2006 9789990848052 Paperback

In this utterly original book, Samson Kambalu writes of his childhood in a country few are able to pinpoint on a map. As the family moves from feast to real poverty and deprivation, and back to plenty again, depending on their father's professional fortunes, we are introduced to life in a country in which no dissent is tolerated, where political opponents are disappeared and a portrait of Life President Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda is always guaranteed to be watching. But this is also a country in which a young boy obsessed with books, girls, fashion, football and Michael Jackson wins a free education at the Kamuzu Academy (The Eton of Africa) and grows up to be one of the UK's most promising young conceptual artists. 336pp, UK. JONATHAN CAPE.

A collection of new and selected poems highlighting the range of Mapanje's work. The themes of his poetry range from the search for a sense of dignity and integrity under a repressive regime to reconciliation with torturers. xiv, 224pp, UK. BLOODAXE BOOKS, 1852246650

Historical play about the 1915 Nyasaland African uprising led by John Chilembwe. In 1897 the freelance English missionary Joseph Booth took John Chilembwe to America where, through the offices of black American colleagues, he received a three-year theological education. He returned in 1900 and founded his own church and school, wrote in the Nyasaland Times he was to make an African a worthy member of the human race and indomitable. On 23rd January, 1915 he led 1000 men in a rising to drive out foreign rulers of the country and set up a govern-ment of his own. The rising was crushed within two weeks. The circumstances of his death were a mystery for several decades. 140pp, MALAWI. KACHERE SERIES.

Tells the story of the hapless Pangani family. Third novel from this Malawian novelist. Gloss, 199pp, MALAWI. JHANGO.

2005 9990845188 Paperback

New edition of this classic poetry collection. The author was a political prisoner between 1987and 1991. 80pp, UK. HEINEMANN AFRICAN WRITERS SERIES.

Using performance directions and musical notation, these transcripts of Chitumbuka folktales capture the stylistic nuances of a master oral performer. 90pp, MALAWI. MZUNI PUBLICATIONS.

2006 9789990857030 Paperback

This new anthology is the product of some seven years of writing, editing, collecting and collating of poetry emanating from Malawi. Many of the poems in the collection are from the time of major political changes between 1992 and 1994. The include: Steve Chimombo, Frank Chipasula, Zangaphee Anthony Nazome, Patrick O'Malley and Francis Sefe. Several poems by the Nigerian, Niyi Osundare, which he dedicated to Jack Mapanje, are also included. 253pp, MALAWI. KACHERE SERIES.

Brings together some 40 poems by the Malawian poet, divided thematically into sections entitled 'Reflections and Sunsets', 'Another Winter', 'Distant Drums', and 'Telling Tales'. Some of the poems have been published in 'Illuminations ' and 'Dream Catcher', while others were published by The Royal Festival Hall in London as part of a poetry digitisation project in 2003. His work has previously appeared in 'Operations and Tears: A New Anthology of Malawian Poetry' (Kachere Series, 2004). 60pp, MALAWI. KACHERE.

A chronicle of two families living through the exhileration of independence and the agony of failed dreams. UK. HEINEMANN AFRICAN WRITERS' SERIES.

An anthology of poetry and short stories from Malawi. Includes biographical notes about the authors. 296pp, MALAWI. CHANCELLOR COLLEGE PUBLICATIONS.

New edition. Drawing on elements of Malawian folklore, these poems confront tyranny in Malawi and East and Southern Africa, and deal with themes of colonial and post-colonial oppression, exile, good and evil. 97pp, UK. MALLORY INTERNATIONAL.

Allegorical fiction. In the novel, the protagonist Chilungamo Nkhoma, an investigative reporter, embarks on learning how the ship was grounded. But instead, he discovers that there are peoples and institutions with vested interests in concealing the truth. They will take great pains to do so and Nkhoma, his family and friends find themselves targets for hit squads. As Nkhoma retraces the original voyage of the ship, his mission assumes ethnic, trans-national and racial dimensions. His seemingly simple assignment grows into a process which resembles a national truth commission. Events culminate in a mass rally of the major political parties on the shore of the lake. 599pp, MALAWI, WASI PUBLICATIONS.