Traces shifts in perspectives on African culture, arts, and philosophy from the conflict with European modernist interventions in the climate of colonialist aggression to present identitarian positions in the climate of globalism, multiculturalism, and mass media. By focusing on what may be called deconstructive moments in twentieth-century Africanist thought on intellectual landmarks, revolutionary ideas, crises of consciousness, literary and philosophical debates this study looks at African modernity and modernism from critical postcolonial perspectives. 280pp, UK. ROUTLEDGE.

Exploring the concepts of Eurocentrism and hegemonic discourse, the six contributors to this volume, including Fitzroy Baptiste, Joseph Inikori, Korsi Dogbe, Mojubaolu Olufunke Okome and Gloria Emeagwali, offer this major contribution to the methodology of African studies, one which reaffirms the need for a periodic review of scholars and scholarship in the academy. Racial bias, intolerance, parochialism and male chauvinism have manifested themselves in various ways within the Academy, and this text aims to address the important issues surrounding this phenomenon. Index, 237pp, USA. AFRICA WORLD PRESS.

Colonial Africa saw an explosion of writing and printing, produced and circulated not only by highly educated and visible elites, but also by wage labourers, clerks, village headmasters, traders, and other obscure aspirants to elite status. The ability to read and write was considered essential for educated persons, and Africans from all walks of life strove to participate in the new literary culture. This book uncovers a trove of personal diaries, letters, obituaries, pamphlets, and booklets stored away in tin-trunks, suitcases, and cabinets that reveal individuals involved in the new occupation of the colonial era. Taps into rare primary sources and considers the profusion of literary culture, the propensity to collect and archive text, and the significance attached to reading as a form of self-improvement. Index, b/w illus, 432pp, USA. INDIANA UNIVERSITY PRESS.

The contributors to this volume critically establish the connections between colonialism, nationalism, migration and diaspora and relate these to postcolonial concerns with race, whiteness, gender and narrative. 346pp, GERMANY. BAYREUTH.

Twenty eight interviews conducted between 1969 and 1986. Index, vi, 428pp, USA. AFRICA WORLD PRESS, 0865439664

By exploring the relationships between African novels and Joseph Conrad's fiction, this book examines the many discontinuous functions postcolonial revisions of the canon can serve. While contemporary literary studies too often represent such revisions merely as a means for postcolonial writers to challenge a colonial worldview, this one explores how African authors engage with a wide range of historically specific ideologies generated by particular histories of national independence and the development of postcolonial nations. The shift in focus away from a single colonial moment enables Caminero-Santangelo to detect a complex interweaving of convergence and divergence between Conrad and African writers such as Chinua Achebe, Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Nadine Gordimer, Tayeb Salih, and Ama Ata Aidoo, who use Conradian intertexts to intervene in repressive situations in late-twentieth-century Africa. Index, bib, notes, 172pp, USA. STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK.

Provides a comprehensive formulation of the 'African imagination' as manifested in oral traditions and modern literature. He illuminates works by Achebe, Soyinka, Hampate, Ba and Kourouma, among others, and examines the growing presence of African writing in the global literary marketplace and the relationship between African intellectuals and the West. Notes, bib, index, xxi, 296pp, UK. OXFORD UNIV PRESS, 0195086198

2001 Paperback

In a Nigerian newspaper, more than ten years ago, the distinguished critic, Biodun Jeyifo, lamented what he called the homelessness of the writings of African literary theorists and critics. This landmark anthology at long last creates a home for the key texts, bringing together work that otherwise exists only in disparate journals and essay collections, and largely inaccessible texts. Covering all genres and critical schools of literary theory, the anthology provides the intellectual context for understanding African literature. The material is organised around significant topics in the field, including feminist criticism, postmodernism, and Marxist theory; and reflects the chronological development of African literary criticism. Writings include those written by scholars with often fiercely divergent viewpoints, exemplifying the drama and excitement of debates in the field. Index, 774pp, UK. BLACKWELL PUBLISHING.

Examines in particular Achebe's Anthills of the Savannah and Petals of Blood by Ngugi wa Thiong'o, but situates these within the broader context of developments in African literature over the past half-century, discussing writers from Ayi Kwei Armah to Wole Soyinka. Argues that these authors have been profoundly affected by the political situation of Africa, but have also helped to create a new African political philosophy. Index, bib, notes, 164pp, UK. ZED BOOKS.

This selection of essays fairly represents the geographic and thematic range of presentations at the millennial conference of the African Literature Association (ALA) in Lawrence, Kansas, which explored enduring themes and new directions in African and African Diaspora literatures. 348pp, USA. AFRICA WORLD PRESS.

An introduction to eight African novels written in English: Achebe's Things Fall Apart, Emecheta's The Joys of Motherhood, Armah's The Beatyful Ones Are Not Yet Born, Aidoo's Ours Sister Killjoy, Gordimer's Burger's Daughter, Alex La Guma's In the Fog of the Seasons' End, Ngugi's Devil on the Cross, and Tsitsi Dangarembga's Nervous Conditions. Index, notes, bib, xi, 227pp, UK. JAMES CURREY PUBLISHERS, 0852555520

25 college teachers describe their favourite African novels and share their experiences in using them in the classroom. Includes suggestions for further reading. vi, 314pp, USA. LYNNE RIENNER, 1555878784 PB

Examines African literatures in English since the end of colonialism, investigating how they represent African history through the twin matrices of memory and trauma. Inextricably tied up with the historical conditions of Africa’s colonisation, charting the emergence of its independ-ence, and scrutinising Africa’s contemporary neo-colonial and postcolonial states as a legacy of the colonial past, African literatures are continually preoccupied with exploring modes of representation to work through their different traumatic colonial pasts. Among other issues, this book deals with literature in the era of apartheid, the post-apartheid aftermath, metafictional experiments in African fiction, gender representation in reaction to the trauma of colonialism and imprisonment narratives. 336pp, UK. MANCHESTER UNIVERSITY PRESS.

Investigates how Nigerian women novelists negotiate African feminism in a triangle of intertextuality. The image of women in the Ifo oral tales is seen as male authored and therefore challenged in the novels of African feminist writers. Arndt focuses on this intertextual dialogue between orature and African women's literature. B/w illus, notes, bib, index, 410pp, GERMANY. BAYREUTH 392751053X

Africa's imagination has tended to be dominated by pressing social and political issues, and its fiction has reflected this in its social realism. However, in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, this tendency has been challenged by the rise to prominence of experimental fiction exhibiting unique postmodern and magical realist characteristics. After Colonialism thoroughly examines this new fiction and its contribution to the liberation of Africa's imagination. It finds, perhaps ironically, that a liberated imagination is a powerful tool for understanding the complex issues of a postcolonial Africa. 420pp, SOUTH AFRICA. WITWATERSRAND UNIVERSITY PRESS.

This DVD contains original footage and material from an international conference held in 2000 in Asmara, Eritrea on African languages and linguistics. It brought together over 250 writers, scholars, academics, cultural activists, artists and publishers from all regions of Africa, Europe and North America, and builds on the legacy of the African Writers Conference held at Makerere University in 1962. It culminates with the formulation and ratification of the Asmara Declaration on African Languages and Literatures, a declaration of linguistic independence for the continent. This film brings together writers and scholars, including Ngugi wa Thiongo, Nawal al Saadawi (co-chair), Kofi Anyidoho, Abena Busia and Kassahun Checole. Much of the confer-ence was conducted in African languages, all of which have English sub-titles. Includes footage of a Tigrinya translation of Ngugi's I WILL MARRY WHEN I WANT. Participants contend that African languages, oral and written, are the continents most valuable cultural asset and resource. 55mins, ERITREA. HDRI Publishers.

Places African women in the feminist debate and attempt to define new understandings of African feminist literary theory. Includes a brief biography of each writer. bib, 90pp, GERMANY. BOOKS ON AFRICAN STUDIES.

2002 392719817X Paperback

A reader's guide to selected books that capture some of the spirit of the continent, with reviews and excerpts from notable books from each of the 54 countries in Africa. This compilation explores many of the best-known works published in or about the continent, but also draws attention to under-appreciated books by excellent but lesser-known African and non-African writers. Suggestions for further reading. Bib, 289pp, SOUTH AFRICA. JACANA MEDIA.

The impact of nationalism on the emergence and development of African literature is now well documented. Globalization or the postnational state it seems to herald, the emblematic phenomenon of our era, has not received much attention. This book examines the work of Nuruddin Farah and B. Kojo Laing as articulations of a globalized, postnational reality. At the heart of the book is an analysis of a nuanced and complex experience of global modernity as Africans reassess the constants of nationalist discourse: culture, identity, locality, and territoriality. Bib, 168pp, BNS, NETHERLANDS. RODOPI.

A bibliography of all important work produced on Anglophone black African literature between 1997 and 1999. Index, 457pp, UK. JAMES CURREY PUBLISHERS, 085255575X

2003 Hardback

This book brings together eleven contributions contemporary black African literature in English, 1991-2001. Some 120 books and over 300 scholarly and bibliographical essays from journals and periodicals are reviewed. 346pp, TANZANIA. MKUKI NA NYOTA PUBLISHERS.

A discussion of bibliographic criticism looking at the lives and works of Chinua Achebe, Dennis Brutus, Cyprian Ekwensi, Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Wole Soyinka, Amos Tutuola, Janheinz Jahn and Sartjee Baartman. Notes, index, ix, 200pp, USA. AFRICA WORLD PRESS, 0865437297

Challenges the conventional belief that the English-language literary traditions of East Africa are restricted to the former British colonies of Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. Instead, these traditions stretch far into such neighbouring countries as Somalia and Ethiopia. Beginning with a chronology of key historical events and an overview of the emergence and transformation of literary culture in the region, the guide provides an alphabetical list of major writers and brief descriptions of their concerns and achievements. Separate entries within this list describe thematic concerns, such as colonialism, decolonization, the black aesthetic, and the language question; the growth of genres like autobiography and popular literature; important movements like cultural nationalism and feminism; and the impact of major forces such as AIDS/HIV, Christian missions, and urbanization. 224pp, USA. COLUMBIA U P.

A comprehensive guide to work written in English or widely available in translation from other languages. The alphabetical format includes: author's biographical details and major publications; selected individual books; literary genres; selected African languages with published literatures; the links with literature in major African languages, Afro-American, Afro-British and Caribbean literature, religion and politics, war literature, women in literature, censorship; literary discourse, influences and movements: black consciousness, feminism and literature, negritude, Africanist discourse, literary theory and criticism; special topic entries: apartheid, Maghrebi literature, Nigeria-Biafra war, Onitsha market literature, publishing in sub-Saharan Africa, writing systems. Bib, xiii,322pp UK. JAMES CURREY, 0852555490

Some of the essays in this volume were published in Nigeria a few years ago (ON BLACK CULTURE, Obafemi Awolowo University Press). That edition is now out of print; nonetheless, the essays remain relevant. The present text contains new chapters which serve as a continuation of Ojo-Ade's exploration and explication of African continental and diasporic cultures. Culture is defined as the totality of a peoples way of life, forged by essence and experience. The critic, a polyglot (Yoruba, English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese) with a broad-based background, analyses the works of major figures of Africana, from the ancestral continent, Brazil, Cuba, Martinique, Guyane, Haiti, Jamaica, the United States, Britain, France, and elsewhere. Index, 299pp, USA. AFRICA WORLD PRESS.

Focuses on developments in Southern, East and West African fiction since 1980, highlighting the work of authors who have become prominent in the last decade including Abdulrazak Gurnah, Lindsey Collen, J.M. Coetzee, Yvonne Vera, Bessie Head, Mtutuzeli Matshoba, Ben Okri, Calixthe Beyala, and Ken Saro Wiwa. Notes, refs, 264pp, GERMANY. BAYREUTH 3927510386

Translation, in all of its dimensions, was the theme of the 2001 African Literature Association conference held in Richmond, Virginia. Translation encompasses more than the movement of expression from one language to another, and includes the translating of one culture into another, translating the particularities of historical experience into the broader grasp of humanity, and translating specific personal experience into that broader grasp. Contributors to this wide ranging collection of papers on translation are Assia Djebar, Emmanuel Dongala, Nuruddin Farah and Nadine Gordimer. Writers whose work is addressed include Chinua Achebe, Mongo Beti, Wole Soyinka and Ahmadou Kourouma. Andre Djiffack's paper on Mongo Beti is in French and Assia Djebar's address is also in French followed by an English translation by Clarrise Zimra. Index, notes, 221pp, USA. AFRICA WORLD PRESS, 1592210422

Intended for teachers and students of creative writing, poetry and African literature on the African continent and beyond, especially young African writers, placing African literature and writing into a wider literary context and tradition. Topics include: the poetic experience; figurative language and figures of speech; rhythm, musicality and figures of sound; setting, atmosphere and mood; the writing life and practice; and publishing in a global age. BNS, 86pp, NIGERIA. MALTHOUSE.

An important work which looks at literature as a cultural production. The author therefore analyses historical and sociological factors which form the basis of interpretation and analysis of African literatures. The work of Mariama Ba, Tsitsi Dangarembga, Wole Soyinka, Cheik Hamidou Kane, Naguib Mahfouz, Buchi Emecheta, Chinua Achebe, Ngugi wa Thiongo, Dennis Brutus are Syl Cheney-Coker examined in detail. Index, refs, xi, 183pp, USA. CAROLINA ACADEMIC PRESS, 0890891427

The most comprehensive reference work on African literature from the past to the present. Includes 700 entries on both famous and lesser known authors as well as the varied literary cultures of the continent. Each entry includes a guide to further reading. Index, xiv, map, 629pp, UK. ROUTLEDGE, 0415230195

The first attempt in English criticism to give Islam its proper place in black African literatures, focusing on Islam in the works of many African authors including Camara Laye, Cheikh Hamidou Kane, Sembene Ousmane, Birago Diop, and Hampate Ba. Notes, bib, index, xii, 332pp, UK. JAMES CURREY PUBLISHERS, 0852555288

Acclaimed examination of Lusophone African literature and writers. B/w ill, notes, bib, index, xxi, 256pp, USA. AFRICA WORLD PRESS, 0865437394

Literary essays, rooted in personal experience and travel, are long and loving looks into the mysterious heart of Africa. Her writings explore topics as diverse as volcanic eruptions and wild trees, African art and ritual, life in Rwanda, and turtle eggs in warm sand. 96pp, CANADA. UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA PRESS.

Selected essays edited by Wole Ogundele, most of which concern oral or written literary subjects. Notes, app, gloss, 230pp, GERMANY. BAYREUTH AFRICAN STUDIES. 3927510718

This volume features critical essays on Southern African writers who have become prominent during the last two decades of the 20th century. It covers young writers, such as Njabulo Ndebele and Tsitsi Dangarembga, as well as established authors, such as Andre Brink and Breyten Breytenbach. 192pp, UK. JAMES CURREY.

Interviews with: Nadine Gordimer, Dan Jacobsen, Guy Butler, Douglas Livingstone, Sipho Sepamla, Fatima Dike, Alan Scholefield, Ross Devenish, Doris Lessing, Jeremy Cronin, Gcina Mhlohe, Dennis Brutus, Edouard Maunick, Tban lo Liyong, Luis Bernardo Honwana, Tahar Ben Jelloun, Nuruddin Farah, Amhadou Kourouma, Goretti Kyomuhendo, Michele Rakotson, John Mateer, Sheila Roberts and Veronique Tadjo. Index, 227pp, SOUTH AFRICA. PROTEA BOOK HOUSE.

Sixteen essays introducing the reader to the heritage of the African prose narrative starting from its oral base and covering its linguistic and cultural diversity. Topics discussed include orality and literacy in narratives of Shaka; rooted in the oral tradition: Sundiata; the francophone ant-icolonialist novel; the novel of post-independence disillusionment in Central Africa; the Nigerian war novel; and the short story in SiSwati. Writers discussed include Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Cheikh Hamidou Kane, Sibusiso Nyembezi, Mongane Serote, Bessie Head, E'sKia Mphahlele, Syl Cheney Coker, and Ben Okri. Refs, xv, 273pp, USA. AFRICA WORLD PRESS, 1592211372

Covers a comprehensive range of genres- from the epic tradition and oral literature, to poetry and the modern novel. Subjects include: negritude poetry of protest, revolt and reconciliation; the biographies and autobiographical novels of women writers and their comparative late arrival on the literary scene; and perspectives on the debate surrounding the tradition and status of the African novel. BNS, 316pp, NIGERIA. SPECTRUM BOOKS.

A new perspective in the study of African language literatures, focusing on the dialogue between languages and linguistic consciousness. The author provides a historical overview of African writing and compares the work of writers such as Thomas Mofolo and Sol Plaatje. Ricard also looks at writers who work in two languages such as Ngugi Wa Thiong'o, Alexis Kagame and Amadou Hampate Ba. Illustrated with b/w images of the authors discussed. Translated from the French by Naomi Morgan. This edition is updated and expanded from the first edition published in 1995. Index, bib, 230pp, UK. JAMES CURREY PUBLISHERS.

This is a comparative study of two literary movements: the Harlem Renaissance and négritude, and an effort to revaluate some the existing scholarship on the two movements. The work addresses both the factual errors in the current state of scholarship on the literature, as well as the false claims of a more ideological nature. The study focuses on the commonalties of the two movements: their anchorage in ideas of race, resistance, renewal and assimilation; and the preexistence of the socio-psychological factors in each context, which engendered the move-ments. It also examines the ambiguous relationship between the two movements, and with ordinary blacks; their respective identification with Africa; and mutual influences upon one another. 344pp, NIGERIA. UNIVERSITY PRESS PLC.

An introduction into the historical issues and cultural concerns of 10 of Africa's most renowned writers namely: Chinua Achebe, Buchi Emecheta, Ayi Kwei Armah, Mariama Ba, Ousmane Sembene, Ngugi Wa Thiong'o, Nadine Gordimer, Alex La Guma, Alan Paton and Bessie Head. Also includes close analysis of 14 novels. BNS, USA. GREENWOOD PUBLISHING GROUP, 0313319014

Do interviews provide a true picture of the concerns and perspectives of African writers? This book provides and in depth critical analysis of a variety of interviews, particularly with Soyinka and Ousmane, and provides a comprehensive listing of media interviews carried out in many countries in various languages with African writers. Index, 512pp, GERMANY, IN GERMAN. BAYREUTH A S.

Examines the genre with reference to three of its West African pioneers: Syl Cheney Coker of Sierra Leone, Ben Okri of Nigeria and Kojo Laing of Ghana. Index,bib, 250pp, UK. ROUTLEDGE.

Fifteen essays organised into four themes: Islam in Maghrebian literature; Islam in African language literatures; Islam in Nigerian literature; Islam in the work of Nuruddin Farah. Notes, refs, gloss, bib, index, 239pp, UK. JAMES CURREY PUBLISHERS, 0852555407

Argues that African literary theory has recently gained immensely from an emerging multitude of perspectives and scholarly approaches. This volume offers an opportunity to assess trends in the twenty-first century’s discourse on African literature. Twelve articles treat such lively issues as modernity, nation, civil society, postcolonial theory, and feminism, relating these both to more recent short stories, poems, and novels and to a large variety of texts that have in one way or another acquired canonical status. 218pp, NETHERLANDS. RODOPI.

Collection of some of the best lectures at the African Literature Association's 25th annual conference held in 1999. The conference brought together for the first time a large number of scholars, creative writers and artists from Northern Africa and their counterparts from Sub-Saharan Africa. The conference and this collection highlight the stimulating dialogue between two literary and cultural areas that have often been artificially compartmentalised. The essays illustrate the breadth and dynamism of African literature. Index, 555pp, USA. AFRICA WORLD PRESS. 1592211577

Collection of essays from the dramatist, poet and scholar. The title essay looks at oral literature and the possibilities of modern African poetry. Index, viii, 359pp, USA . AFRICA WORLD PRESS, 0865438064

In a series of provocative essays the author contests die-hard Africanist and nativist perspectives as well as some of the key assumptions of post-colonial theory. Notes, bib, index, USA. CALIFORNIA U P.

Only a small number of African writers (Chinua Achebe, Ben Okri, Nuruddin Farah, Wole Soyinka) have become known outside their own continent. They also face enormous obstacles within Africa to get their work published, let alone to support themselves financially from their writing. Charles Larson combines writers' testimony, pen portraits of their lives, and factual investigation to explore the problem. Who is the readership in Africa? How do African publishing houses treat their authors ? What are the consequences of political repression ? And can anything be done to build a more supportive environment for African writers ? Notes, bib, index, 192pp, UK. ZED BOOKS.

This collection of essays and lectures from over the past decade addresses issues of culture and literature and the direction of African cultural and artistic creations in a global age. Selected contents: the Challenges of the African Writer Today; African culture and the New World Order; Self, Myth and Historical Consciousness: an African Writers Reflection; Whose English? the African Writer and the Language Issue; Countering Terror in the Literary World: the Example of Activism. 184pp, NIGERIA. MALTHOUSE

Seventeen essays written in honour of Bernth Lindfors, which contribute to the debates surrounding African literature and its dissemination in Africa and the world. Index, bib, xv, 399pp, ERITREA. AFRICA WORLD PRESS, 0865439923

A much-praised collection of critical essays which widens the debates surrounding post-colonial literatures by looking at the importance of women in African writing, both as a subject and author. Questions are both posed about the authority of Western critics and their assumptions when dealing with the work of African women. Index, notes, xv, 233pp, UK. ROUTLEDGE.

The ten articles in this collection were chosen from the 1995 conference of the African Literature Association held in Columbus, Ohio. The theme of that conference, the book's title, has been broadly interpreted in both practical and theoretical ways. Most of the writers use the phrase 'Post Colonial' simply to refer to contemporary writings in Africa and the African diaspora. Others examine the more theoretical aspects of post colonial culture, especially as it illuminates the complex relationship between Africa and the West. Still other essays are concerned with feminist critiques of African literature. BNS, index, 149pp. USA. AFRICA WORLD PRESS, 0865437718

Examines the creative industries of Cameroon in particular and Africa in general and makes bold assertion that Africa is home to some of the most diverse cultural patrimony and the most versatile creative professionals in the world. It also discusses indigenous development models and questions the rationale for Eurocentric democratic paradigms which have partly contributed to the demise of a concrete democratic development entitlement in most African countries. Ngwane weaves both the cultural and political strands into a search for a home-grown development web which he calls 'glocalisation'. 196pp, CAMEROON. LANGAA RPCIG.

In his study of the origins of political reflection in twentieth-century African fiction, Donald Wehrs examines a neglected but important body of African texts written in colonial (English and French) and indigenous (Hausa and Yoruba) languages. He explores pioneering narrative representations of pre-colonial African history and society in seven texts: Casely Hayford's Ethiopia Unbound (1911), Alhaji Sir Abubaker Tafawa Balewa's Shaihu Umar (1934), Paul Hazoumé's Doguicimi (1938), D.O. Fagunwa's Forest of a Thousand Daemons (1938), Amos Tutuola's The Palm-Wine Drinkard (1952) and My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (1954), and Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart (1958). Wehrs highlights the role of pre-colonial political economies and articulations of state power on colonial-era considerations of ethical and political issues, and is attentive to the gendered implications of texts and authorial choices. Index, bib, 193pp, UK. ASHGATE.

Applies the techniques of contemporary criticism to the study of the relationship between form and content in the work of eleven leading writers from Africa; Camara Laye, Ayi Kwei Armah, Mongo Beti, Wole Soyinka, Ferdinand Oyono, Sembene Ousmane, Alex La Guma, Ngugi, Achebe and Elechi Amadi. Index, 172pp, UK. JAMES CURREY PUBLISHERS.

An invaluable resource for students & teachers of African popular literatures, which draws together primary texts & a range of analytical perspectives. Classics such as Donatus Nwoga's 1965 article on Onitsha market literature are reprinted alongside newly commissioned articles on popular fiction. Contributors' explorations of the social, political & economic contexts of popular narratives make the book of interest also to anthropologists & social historians. UK. JAMES CURREY PUBLISHERS, 0852555644

Redefines postcolonial literature, engages postcolonial and feminist theory, and provides a point of entry for Francophone studies into broad postcolonial debates. USA. HEINEMANN INC.

One of the first intellectual works to engage Anglo-American literary theory with African literature the author looks at how concepts of modernity, colonialism and post colonialism are central to the work of the Nigerian authors D.O. Fagunwa, Wole Soyinka, Amos Tutola and Chinua Achebe. index, bib, notes, 227pp, USA. STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK, 0791455424

Explores how African and Western authors portray youth in contemporary African societies, critically examining the dominant images of Africa and Africans in books published between 1960 and 2005. The book focuses on contemporary children’s and young adult literature set in Africa, examining issues regarding colonialism, the politics of representation, and the challenges posed to both insiders and outsiders writing about Africa for children. 160pp, UK. ROUTLEDGE.

A study undertaking an analysis of the models of response to colonial, apartheid and post colonial imposition which are posited in the novels of the Kenyan author Ngugi wa Thiong'o and the South African writer Alex La Guma. The study also looks at the development of the two authors' literary careers and distinguishes between two phases in the two authors' fiction. Their counter hegemonic fiction and heir combat fiction. BNS, 391pp, GERMANY. LANG (PETER) PUBLISHERS, 3631501838

Ranging from ancient cultures to the present century, from Africa's rich oral traditions to its contemporary fiction, poetry, and drama, this long-awaited comprehensive anthology reflects the enduring themes of African literature. The selections, drawn from the length and breadth of the continent, reveal the richness of African creativity. Readers will find myths and epics, works by such well-known figures as Chinua Achebe, Miriama Ba, Bessie Head, Tayeb Salih, Wole Soyinka, and Ngugi wa Thiong'o, and fiction and poetry by myriad new writers. The pieces are organized chronologically within geographic region and enhanced by both introductory material and biographical notes on each writer. An author/title index and suggestions for further reading are also included. 900pp, USA. LYNNE RIENNER.

With the increased interest in cultural diversity and the growing centrality of Africa in world politics, African literature is attracting more and more attention internationally. This book helps students learn about the African literary achievement. Written expressly for students, this book is far more accessible than other reference works on the subject. Included are nearly 600 alphabetically arranged entries on authors, such as Chinua Achebe, Athol Fugard, Buchi Emecheta, Nadine Gordimer, and Wole Soyinka; major works, such as Things Fall Apart and Petals of Blood; and individual genres, such as the novel, drama, and poetry. Many entries cite works for further reading, and the volume closes with a selected, general bibliography. 339pp, USA. GREENWOOD.

Interviews with African writers from across the continent: Kofi Anyidoho, Kofi Awoonor, Mohammed ben Abdallah, Chinua Achebe, Odia Ofeimun, Ben Okri, Wole Soyinka, Micere Cithae Mugo, Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Mazisi Kunene, Njabulo Ndebele, Essop Patel, Mongane Wally Serote, Tsitisi Dangarembga, and Musaemura Bonas Zimunya. 256pp, UK. JAMES CURREY PUBLISHERS. 0852555296

Considers which values and criteria should be used to evaluate African literature, and argues for the place of Marxist and feminist ideas. 200pp, 1992/11. DAVID PHILIP.

Looks at poetry, novels and theatre. Includes discussions of Negritude and the African world-view of Senghor's poetry; Ousmane's indictment of political, religious and moral chaos in Africa; the characterisation of women on the Francophone stage; and overview of African radio-drama. BNS, 342pp, NIGERIA. SPECTRUM BOOKS LTD, 9780292063

Toni Morrison’s fiction has been read as a contribution to and critique of Western civilization and Christianity. La Vinia Jennings reveals the fundamental role African traditional religious symbols play in her work. Based on extensive research into West African religions and philosophy, Jennings uncovers and interprets the African themes, images and cultural resonances in Morrison’s fiction. She shows how symbols brought to the Americas by West African slaves are used by Morrison in her landscapes, interior spaces, and the bodies of her characters. 258pp, UK. CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS.

First published in 1980, this is stinging critique of some of the dominant trends in contemporary African literature and literary criticism. Refs, index, xvi, 318pp, USA . HOWARD UNIVERSITY PRESS.

1983 0882581228 Hardback

Essays on postcolonial literature and cross-cultural studies and the ways in which New literatures in English have altered or modified the canon of English literary studies. Contributors include Kamau Brathwaite, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, John Skinner, and Rohan Quince. Index, 261pp, USA. AFRICA WORLD PRESS.

Presents the best online resources available for 300 African writers, selected to include both well-known writers and those less commonly studied yet highly influential, and drawn from both the Sub-Sahara and Maghreb, the major geographical regions of Africa. Index, 185pp, USA. GREENWOOD PUBLISHING GROUP.

Around 1705, an African boy from the seraglio of the Turkish sultan was taken to Russia as a gift to Peter the Great. He was to become the great grandfather of the poet, Alexander Pushkin. The contributors assess the impact of Pushkin's African ancestry on his development and that of Russia's cultural mythology. BNS, 520pp, USA. NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY PRESS.

An analysis of how writers of African descent use the codes of science fiction to explore race and gender, myth and language, slavery and freedom, alienation and difference. Index, bib, x, 132pp, USA. AFRICA WORLD PRESS, 1592210236

A curriculum guide providing historical and cultural contexts and literary criticism on five narratives from North and East Africa: Sister to Scheherazade by Assia Djebar, Fountain and Tomb by Naguib Mahfouz, Woman at Point Zero by Nawal el Saadawi, Song of Lawino and Song of Ocol by Okot p'Bitek and a Grain of Wheat by Ngugi Wa Thiong'o. Includes lesson plans, essay topics and student handouts, as well as teacher and reading resources. xi, 177pp, USA. AFRICA WORLD PRESS, 159221195X

Framing boundaries for postcolonial and gender studies, this literary history examines the lives and work of two of the most controversial writers about Africa, Olive Schreiner and Karen Blixen. Each forged an identity from her experience as a white woman settler in a culture dominated by men. BNS, 256pp, USA. FLORIDA U P, 0813026520

Examines the representation of women in African novels and argues that strong women characters will only come from women writers. BNS, index, 162pp, UK. JAMES CURREY PUBLISHERS, 0852555008

Commemorative Publication in Honour of Eckhard Breitinger. A collection of essays by African writers, dramatists, and theatre practitioners reflecting on the social, political, and cultural processes in Africa from historical and cultural perspectives. Index, bib, 402pp, USA. AFRICA WORLD PRESS.

Collection of original essays exploring the origins of contemporary notions of race in the oceanic interculture of the Atlantic world in the early modern period. In doing so, it breaks down institutional boundaries between 'American' and 'British' literature in this early period, as well as between 'history' and 'literature'. Individual essays address the ways in which categories of 'race' were constructed or adapted by early modern writers. Index, 194pp, USA. PALGRAVE.

Introducing the perspective of 'writing madness' into African literature means seeing that literature from a different angle, through the lenses of writers who have ruffled up the surface of realist representation and have explored issues and styles that represent a trespassing of borders, introducing an element of risk and instability. This study follows the transformation from colonial narratives projecting settlers' horror of the 'heart of darkness' onto the African body and mind, to African writers' interaction with these narratives and their own projections of what constitutes madness in a colonial and postcolonial world. The regional focus is on writers from Southern Africa: Dambudzo Marechera, Lesego Rampolokeng, Bessie Head and Tsitsi Dangarembga, but also included are writers from francophone and East Africa, Sony Labou Tansi and Rebeka Njau, and an analysis of how writing by women displays the gendered violence of the process of mental colonisation. Index, bib, b/w photos, 174pp, UK. JAMES CURREY PUBLISHERS.