1) Albert Chinualumogu Achebe
(November 16,1930-March 21, 2013)
Native Land - Ogidi, Nigeria.
A poet, novelist, professor and critic. He is best known for his first novel, Things Fall Apart (1958), which is the most widely read book in modern African literature. He was also considered by many to be one of the most original literary artists writing in English during his lifetime. Things Fall Apart (1958) has been translated into at least forty-five languages, and has sold eight million copies worldwide. Other novels include: No Longer At Ease (1960), Arrow of God (1964), and A Man of the People (1966).
A poet, novelist, professor and critic. He is best known for his first novel, Things Fall Apart (1958), which is the most widely read book in modern African literature. He was also considered by many to be one of the most original literary artists writing in English during his lifetime. Things Fall Apart (1958) has been translated into at least forty-five languages, and has sold eight million copies worldwide. Other novels include: No Longer At Ease (1960), Arrow of God (1964), and A Man of the People (1966).
Though he has often been called ‘The Father of Nigerian Literature’, he twice refused the Nigerian government’s attempt to name him Commander of the Federal Republic – first in 2004, then again in 2011 – in protest against the political regime of the country. He served as the professor of David and Mariana Fisher University as well as the professor of African Studies at the Brown University in the Providence Rhode Island. He died early 2013 at the age of 82 years old, in Boston, Massachusetts.
‘If you don't like someone's story, write your own.
While we do our good works let us not forget that the real solution lies in a world in which charity will have become unnecessary.
Chinua Achebe, Anthills of the Savannah
2) Akonwande Oluwole "Wole" Soyinka
(13 July 1934 - till present)
Native Land - Abeokuta, near Ibadan in Western Nigeria
Soyinka has produced a large body of work which includes plays, poetry, novels, autobiographies, literary criticism, and social criticism. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986, the first black African to be given the honor. Soyinka’s writing often focuses on oppression and exploitation of the weak by the strong; none are spared in his critique, neither the white speculator nor the black exploiter. Wole Soyinka has also played an important role in Nigerian politics, which has at times exposed him to great personal risk. The government of General Sani Abacha (1993–1998), for instance, pronounced a death sentence on him ‘in absentia’. He wrote his first plays during his time in London,The Swamp Dwellers and The Lion and the Jewel (a light comedy), which were performed at Ibadan in 1958 and 1959 and were published in 1963. Later, satirical comedies are The Trials of Brother Jero (performed in 1960, publ. 1963) with its sequel, Jero's Metamorphosis (performed 1974, publ. 1973), Among Soyinka's serious philosophic plays are (apart from "The Swamp Dwellers") The Strong Breed(performed 1966, publ. 1963), The Road ( 1965) and Death and the King's Horseman (performed 1976, publ. 1975).
Soyinka has produced a large body of work which includes plays, poetry, novels, autobiographies, literary criticism, and social criticism. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986, the first black African to be given the honor. Soyinka’s writing often focuses on oppression and exploitation of the weak by the strong; none are spared in his critique, neither the white speculator nor the black exploiter. Wole Soyinka has also played an important role in Nigerian politics, which has at times exposed him to great personal risk. The government of General Sani Abacha (1993–1998), for instance, pronounced a death sentence on him ‘in absentia’. He wrote his first plays during his time in London,The Swamp Dwellers and The Lion and the Jewel (a light comedy), which were performed at Ibadan in 1958 and 1959 and were published in 1963. Later, satirical comedies are The Trials of Brother Jero (performed in 1960, publ. 1963) with its sequel, Jero's Metamorphosis (performed 1974, publ. 1973), Among Soyinka's serious philosophic plays are (apart from "The Swamp Dwellers") The Strong Breed(performed 1966, publ. 1963), The Road ( 1965) and Death and the King's Horseman (performed 1976, publ. 1975).
There is only one home to the life of a river-mussel; there is only one home to the life of a tortoise; there is only one shell to the soul of man: there is only one world to the spirit of our race. If that world leaves its course and smashes on boulders of the great void, whose world will give us shelter?
Wole Soyinka
3) Amos Tutola
(June 20, 1920 - June 8, 1997).
Native Land - Abeokuta, Nigeria
Amos was a Nigerian writer famous for his books based in part on Yoruba folk-tales. When Amos Tutuola's first novel, The Palm-Wine Drinkard, appeared in 1952, it aroused exceptional worldwide interest. Drawing on the West African (Nigeria) Yoruba oral folktale tradition, Tutuola described the odyssey of a devotedine drinker through a nightmare of fantastic adventure. Tutuola became also one of the founders of Mbari Club, the writers' and publishers' organization. In 1979, he held a visiting research fellowship at the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) at Ile-Ife, Nigeria, and in 1983 he was an associate of the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa. In retirement he divided his time between residences at Ibadan and Ago-Odo. Tutuola died at age 77 on June 8, 1997 from hypertension and diabetes.
Death was not at home by that time, he was in his yam garden.
Amos Tutuola, The Palm-Wine Drinkard
4) Camera Laye
( January 1,1928- February 4, 1980)
Native Land - Guinea.
"Passionately concerned with preserving a record of traditional homeland" (Adele King in The Writings of Camara Laye). He let his narrative and his gently observed characters speak of the warmth, wholeness, and deep piety of pre-colonial African culture and of the growing sadness of his people as their culture changed under both the curse and the stimulus of French rule and influence. Published in 1954 as L’Enfant Noir and appearing in English the following year, The African child is a great read. It is considered one of the best novels to come out French-speaking Africa.
"Passionately concerned with preserving a record of traditional homeland" (Adele King in The Writings of Camara Laye). He let his narrative and his gently observed characters speak of the warmth, wholeness, and deep piety of pre-colonial African culture and of the growing sadness of his people as their culture changed under both the curse and the stimulus of French rule and influence. Published in 1954 as L’Enfant Noir and appearing in English the following year, The African child is a great read. It is considered one of the best novels to come out French-speaking Africa.
Satan is not going to leave. The only way to get him out is to invite God in, and God is not welcome in my mother's house.
Delores Phillips, The Darkest Child
5) Dinaw Mengestu
(June 30, 1978 - till present)
Native Land - Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Dinaw Mengestu is the award-winning author of two previous novels, The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears (2007) and How to Read the Air (2010).
Dinaw Mengestu is the award-winning author of two previous novels, The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears (2007) and How to Read the Air (2010).
Dinaw Mengestu is a young writer whose novels and nonfiction pieces open a window into the little-explored world of the African diaspora in America. His journalism and fiction have appeared in such publications as Harper’s Magazine, Granta, Rolling Stone, The New Yorker, and The Wall Street Journal. He is a recipient of a 2012 MacArthur Foundation genius grant and has a whole host of other accolades.
We persist and linger longer than we think, leaving traces of ourselves wherever we go. If you take that away, then we all simply vanish.
Dinaw Mengestu, How to Read the Air
6) Mariama Bâ
(April 17, 1929–August 17, 1981)
Native Land - Senegal.
Ba is considered as one of the Africa`s best feminist writers. She achieved an instant international fame when her novel "une si longue lettre" (So Long A Letter) published in 1981 won the prestigious Noma Prize and gained wide acclaim. The widely studied novel une si longue lettre (So Long A Letter) was and is still considered the classical feminist statement by a sub-Saharan African woman.
Ba is considered as one of the Africa`s best feminist writers. She achieved an instant international fame when her novel "une si longue lettre" (So Long A Letter) published in 1981 won the prestigious Noma Prize and gained wide acclaim. The widely studied novel une si longue lettre (So Long A Letter) was and is still considered the classical feminist statement by a sub-Saharan African woman.
Her frustration with the fate of African women—as well as her ultimate acceptance of it—is expressed in her work.
Bâ died a year later after a protracted illness, before her second novel, Scarlet Song, which describes the hardships a woman faces when her husband abandons her for a younger woman he knew at youth, was published.
Each life has its share of heroism, an obscure heroism, born of abdication, of renunciation and acceptance under the merciless whip of fate.
Mariama Bâ, So Long a Letter
7) Florence Onyebuchi Emecheta
(July 21, 1944 - till present)
Native Land - Yaba near Lagos, Nigeria.
Many say that Buchi Emecheta is to date the most important female African writer. She is certainly Nigeria’s best known woman writer, and is respected for her imaginative and documentary writing about African women’s experiences in Africa and in Great Britain. Her best-known novels, including Second-Class Citizen(1974), The Bride Price (1976), and The Joys of Motherhood (1979), expose the injustice of traditional, male-oriented African social customs that relegate women to a life of child-bearing, servitude, and victimization. Often regarded as a feminist writer, Emecheta illustrates the value of education and self-determination for aspiring young women who struggle against sexual discrimination, racism, and unhappy marital arrangements to achieve individuality and independence.
Many say that Buchi Emecheta is to date the most important female African writer. She is certainly Nigeria’s best known woman writer, and is respected for her imaginative and documentary writing about African women’s experiences in Africa and in Great Britain. Her best-known novels, including Second-Class Citizen(1974), The Bride Price (1976), and The Joys of Motherhood (1979), expose the injustice of traditional, male-oriented African social customs that relegate women to a life of child-bearing, servitude, and victimization. Often regarded as a feminist writer, Emecheta illustrates the value of education and self-determination for aspiring young women who struggle against sexual discrimination, racism, and unhappy marital arrangements to achieve individuality and independence.
God, when will you create a woman who will be fulfilled in herself, a full human being, not anybody’s appendage? she prayed desperately.’
— The Joys of Motherhood
8) Bessie Head
Born: July 6, 1937, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa
Died: April 17, 1986, Serowe, Botswana
Critically hailed as one of the brightest voices in African literature at the time of her death in 1986, Bessie Head and her oeuvre have remained the subject of ongoing scholarly discussion to this day. Head was not only a fine writer but she also came to literary prominence at a time and place of great significance in the history of Southern Africa. Head’s first novel, When Rain Clouds Gather, was written while the experiences of apartheid and exile were still foremost in her mind. A Question of Power appeared in October 1973 to immediate praise and acclaim.
Bessie Head died on 17 April 1986 in Serowe. She is buried in the old cemetery, on the hillside behind Botalaote ward, amidst trees and flowers.
Her last great piece of writing was a brief, personal article in March 1985, "Why Do I Write?" It ends with her most famous words:"I am building a stairway to the stars. I have the authority to take the whole of mankind up there with me. That is why I write."
9) Ousmane Sembene
Born Jan. 1, 1923, Ziguinchor-Casamance, Seneg., French West Africa—died June 9/10, 2007, Dakar, Seneg.),
To speak of African cinema is to speak the name of Ousmane Sembene. Known as "the father of African film, Senegal's Ousmane Sembene wrote and directed "Black Girl," the very first African film, in 1965. He employed a redemptive and galvanizing power of art and as a filmmaker he used the barrel of the camera to restore the African self-image.
Sembène taught himself to read and write in French and in 1956 published his first novel,Le Docker noir (Black Docker), based on his experiences in Marseille. After a spinal disorder forced him to give up physical labour, he made literature his livelihood. Among the works that followed were Ô pays, mon beau peuple! (1957; “O My Country, My Good People”), Les Bouts de bois de Dieu(1960; God’s Bits of Wood), a volume of short stories titled Voltaïque (1962; Tribal Scars and Other Stories), L’Harmattan (1964; “The Wind”), and Xala (1973), which also provided the subject of one of his best films (1974). In 1987 the novella collection Niiwam; suivi de Taaw (Niiwam; and Taaw) was published.
His other works include; Mandabi (“The Money Order”), a comedy of daily life and corruption in Dakar, his masterpiece, Ceddo (1977; “Outsiders”), Camp de Thiaroye (1987; “The Camp at Thiaroye”) amongst others.
At the moment the eyes of the body closed, the eyes of the mind were opened.
Ousmane Sembène, God's Bits Of Wood
10) Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o
(January 5, 1938 - till present)
Native Land- Limuru, Kenya.
Ngugi wa Thiong’o is a writer of Kenyan descent. One of the foremost living African novelists, he has also developed a reputation as a post-colonial theorist, and has taught at universities throughout the world. Ngugi burst onto the literary scene in East Africa with the performance of his first major play, The Black Hermit, at the National Theatre in Kampala, Uganda, in 1962, as part of the celebration of Uganda’s Independence.
Ngugi is best known for his novel Weep Not, Child, which he wrote while studying at Leeds. Some of his other well-known novels include Petals of Blood (1977), A Grain of Wheat (1967), and Wizard of the Crow (2006). In 2012, his memoir In the House of the Interpreter was published.
He has also continued to speak around the world at numerous universities and as a distinguished speaker.
Being is one thing; becoming aware of it is a point of arrival by an awakened consciousness and this involves a journey.
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, In the Name of the Mother: Reflections on Writers and Empire
1 comments:
Thorough made list..to me African writers are deep and introspective
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