At independence, adults were reading decolonial classics - but children were reading Enid Blyton. A generation of unsung women writers changed that.
Academic rigor, journalistic flair
Articles on African writers
Displaying 21 - 40 of 52 articles
A psychologist and a literary scholar analyse Faceless, a powerful novel about homeless children - and their mothers.
These columns demonstrate that Noni Jabavu’s concerns from 1970s are still relevant today.
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.
Top contributors
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Junior Research Fellow, University of Oxford
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Research Associate, Humanities Research Centre (and African Literature Department, University of the Witwatersrand), University of York
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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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Assistant Professor, American University of Paris (AUP)
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Fellow, King's College London
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Chief Albert Luthuli Research Chair, University of South Africa
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Adjunct Professor, Richmond American International University
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Senior research fellow, University of the Western Cape
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Senior Lecturer, Stellenbosch University
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Poet and lecturer in Creative Writing, University of the Witwatersrand
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Senior Lecturer, Department of English, University of the Free State
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Professor of Religion and African Studies, University of Leeds
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Lecturer in Afrikaans Literature and Literary Theory, University of Pretoria
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Senior Lecturer in English, University of the Western Cape
