These columns demonstrate that Noni Jabavu’s concerns from 1970s are still relevant today.
Academic rigor, journalistic flair
Articles on African writers
Displaying 1 - 20 of 30 articles
These vibrant writers embrace the open road and claim spaces that were denied them during apartheid.
A powerful new book restores the writer and feminist politician to her rightful place in history.
Born 100 years ago this year, Africa’s most legendary filmmaker - and a prolific novelist -remains relevant through his beautifully crafted political works.
Challenging myths about heterosexual white South African men, Prinsloo published four books of short stories in 12 years.
Poet, soldier and critic of postcolonial elites, Hadraawi was the greatest poet of his generation.
Playing out in an animal kingdom, Glory is a devastating political commentary on Zimbabwe today.
A true African poet, Don Mattera was at the centre of public life, an advocate for change and an enemy of elitism.
Despite being almost erased from history, Sithole’s ideas are still relevant today.
Buys, the award-winning novel by Willem Anker, uses lines without credit from the Irish writer - not the first such literary controversy it has raised.
The famous writer turns 70 this year. She is driven by how South Africans see and hear one another.
His major work The Quiet Violence of Dreams is about a young man undergoing a mental breakdown, something that the novelist also experienced.
Ama Ata Aidoo recognises the differences between humans and the existence of a history in which some humans are dehumanised.
The new novel by Nigerian icon Wole Soyinka is at once satire, political thriller and tragedy. It is the work of a great writer that marks the destruction of postcolonial reason.
He is the first writer from sub-Saharan Africa to lift the Prix Goncourt, one of the book world’s most important prizes. And his win matters.
Abdulrazak Gurnah’s stories suggest that it is important to see others in relation to ourselves, to perceive their right of abode even if they cannot claim national belonging.
The power in Gurnah’s writing lies in his ability to complicate the Manichean divisions of enemies and friends.
The shocking story at the centre of When the Village Sleeps is as heartbreaking as it is - ultimately - full of hope.
For parents, skin colour is often a difficult subject and dealing with it through storytelling can be a useful aid.
The public politics of African writers has been in the spotlight again due to the bitter disagreement between Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Akwaeke Emezi over transgender issues.
Top contributors
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Associate Professor, Department of Literary Studies in English, Rhodes University
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Senior Lecturer, University of Pretoria
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Junior Research Fellow, University of Oxford
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Assistant Professor, American University of Paris (AUP)
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Adjunct Professor, Richmond American International University
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Evan Pugh University Professor of Anthropology, Penn State
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Professor of French and Postcolonial Studies, University of Strathclyde
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Professor of African Literature, University of the Witwatersrand
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Professor of Journalism and Media Studies, Rhodes University
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Professor of Creative Writing and English Literature, University of the Western Cape
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Professor of Modern Literature, University of York
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Senior Lecturer in Literature, University of Nairobi
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Associate Professor in the Department of African Literature, University of the Witwatersrand
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PhD candidate in Literature, University of the Witwatersrand
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Lecturer in Afrikaans Literature and Literary Theory, University of Pretoria
