The re-issue of archival volumes ALT 1 to ALT 14 makes the complete series available and provides the historical perspective of these early contributions to the literature and its criticism. In his Editorial to African Literature Today 12, first published in 1982, Eldred Jones laments the death of Camara Laye and gives tribute to him as one of the pioneers of African literature. The volume celebrates new writers whose works "have not received much critical attention either because they are relatively new, or because not being what might be described as mainstream they may unintentionally, perhaps, have been damned with faint praise or neglect." There are contributions on the works of Gabriel Okara, Robert Serumaga, Hamidou Kane and John Munonye, and emerging as significant new voices are playwrights Femi Osofisan and Ola Rotimi, and feminist writer Mariama Ba.

The re-issue of archival volumes ALT 1 to ALT 14 makes the complete series available and provides the historical perspective of these early contributions to the literature and its criticism. This volume, first published in 1980, provides an overview of the way myth and history have influenced both the literature of Africa and individual writers. Isidore Okpewho, Solomon O. Iyasere and Mazisi Kunene contribute here onmyth, oral tradition and African cosmological systems. Armah's vision of history is examined both in the way that it appears in his novels and in comparison with Ouologuem and Soyinka; also examined are Elechi Amadi's view of thegods, Achebe's use of myth in Arrow of God and the inward journey of Tutuola's Palm-Wine Drinkard. There are views across the Atlantic of the way the Middle Passage resonates in the work of Edouard Glissant and in the work of a number of writers from West Africa.

The re-issue of archival volumes ALT 1 to ALT 14 makes the complete series available and provides the historical perspective of these early contributions to the literature and its criticism. In this 10th anniversary volume, first published in 1979, Eldred Jones outlines the trend over the years since independence of "a greater degree of alienation or dissidence of the principal writers from established regimes and a movement towards a closer identification with what they see as the needs of the ordinary people. Writers increasingly found themselves in difficulties with their respective governments, with ensuing consequences of loss of favour,of exile - enforced or voluntary - or worse still of detention or imprisonment in their own countries." This issue makes a reassessment of African writing with special articles on novels, drama and poetry and particular studies ofthe work of Kofi Awoonor, Ngugi, Ezekiel Mphalele, Richard Rive, Cyprian Ekwensi, Ayi Kwei Armah, Yambo Ouologuem and Arthur Nortje.

The re-issue of archival volumes ALT 1 to ALT 14 makes the complete series available and provides the historical perspective of these early contributions to the literature and its criticism. First published in 1976, this volume has a focus on African drama and carries an introductory article by Ghanaian poet and playwright J.C. de Graft. There are three articles on Wole Soyinka's work as a playwright and an article onthe dramatic works of Ama Ata Aidoo, as well as an article on four dramatists from East Africa. The dilemmas of the popular playwright are discussed in an article on two Zambian writers and Eldred Jones's Editorial gives examplesfrom Sierra Leone of the challenges faced by more "popular" playwrights and those with the more "literary" concerns of publication.

The re-issue of archival volumes ALT 1 to ALT 14 makes the complete series available and provides the historical perspective of these early contributions to the literature and its criticism. Originally published in 1971, this was the first volume in the series to focus on a specific theme, in this case the novel, but continues the format of including contributions from both writers and critics. There are articles on:Equiano, Onuora Nzekwu, T.M. Aluko, Ngugi, Sarif Easmon, Chinua Achebe and Wole Soyinka. The volume also includes a contribution from Ernest Emenyonu asking of African Literature "What does it take to be its critic" plus reviews of Sembene Ousmane's newly published God's Bits of Wood, Mbella Sonne Dipoko's Because of Women</, T.M. Aluko's Chief, The Honourable Minister and Flora Nwapa's Idu.

The re-issue of archival volumes ALT 1 to ALT 14 makes the complete series available and provides the historical perspective of these early contributions to the literature and its criticism. This volume, first published in 1984, studies the attraction of Africa for non-African writers and the widespread and differing outside influences on African writers. This relationship raises complex problems such as which language to write in, and the representation or misrepresentation of the continent. Kole Omotoso gives a trans-Saharan view of Africa, Funso Aiyejina a West Indian perspective highlighting the work of George Lamming and Denis Williams, and Katherine Frank examines the relevance of feminist criticism to the African novel. Other contributors compare and contrast the works of European, American, Caribbean and African writers: Graham Greene and Dadie; Soyinka and Beckett; Laye, Lamming and Wright; Camus and Cesaire; Yeats and J.P. Clark; Equiano and Defoe; Ernest Gaines and Oyono.

The re-issue of archival volumes ALT 1 to ALT 14 makes the complete series available and provides the historical perspective of these early contributions to the literature and its criticism. This volume, first published in 1978, looks at the fascinating literary links of the African diaspora in Harlem, Cuba and Haiti. Eldred Jones outlines in his Editorial the impact of the pride in connections with an African past as"one of the great transformations of modern times". The impact on writing moved in all directions and comparisons in this volume are made between Wole Soyinka and Leroi Jones, and between African and Irish Nationalist writing. Among the contributions are articles on the American background to Ayi Kwei Armah's Why Are We So Blest?, the African elements of Cuban literature, and an analysis of the early works and later crime fiction of Chester Himes.The Reviews include Kadiatu Sesay on Ekwensi and Okpwewho, Maryse Conde on Sembene Ousmane's Xala and Eustace Palmer on Meja Mwangi's Going Down River Road and Nuruddin Farah's Naked Needle.

The re-issue of archival volumes ALT 1 to ALT 14 makes the complete series available and provides the historical perspective of these early contributions to the literature and its criticism. First published in 1975, this volume of the series continues in more depth the debate on the role of critics and the purpose of criticism. As Eldred Jones reminds the reader in his Editorial: "African Literature Today has always aimed to be a forum for discussion ... Not surprisingly some opinions have provoked strong reactions. Indeed where there is time reactions are deliberately sought so that differing opinions can appear close to each other....African Literature Today is happy to serve as the threshing floor." The lively exchanges on who is best placed to judge African literature and how best to teach it continue both in responding articles and in the Comments section of the volume. Eldred Jones again embraces this debate and is reminded of the Igbo proverb: "The world is like a mask dancing; if you want to see it well you must not stand in one place."

The re-issue of archival volumes ALT 1 to ALT 14 makes the complete series available and provides the historical perspective of these early contributions to the literature and its criticism. First published in 1983, this volume looks at new developments in the African novel and also at those aspects of more established works that received less critical attention, such as writing from southern Africa, to which censorship and war restricted access. Eldred Jones in his Editorial also cites the "searing impact of the Nigerian Civil War, on the consciousness, not just on Nigerians, but on Africans as a whole". There are also contributions on Nigerian populist Kole Omotoso and Dambudzo Marechera's prize-winning House of Hunger. One of the most significant trends is the emergence of the powerful feminist talents of Buchi Emecheta, Flora Nwapa, Bessie Head, Ama Ata Aidoo and Rebeka Njau. Articles by Eustace Palmer and Femi Ojo-Ade examine the depth and intensity with which some new novelists present the female point of view.

The re-issue of archival volumes ALT 1 to ALT 14 makes the complete series available and provides the historical perspective of these early contributions to the literature and its criticism. First published in 1973, this volume of the series includes a tribute from the Editor to the poet Christopher Okigbo who died fighting in the Biafran War in 1967, and two articles on his poetry. Also discussed are Leopold Senghor,Dennis Brutus, Wole Soyinka, Lenrie Peters and Ferdinand Oyono. The contributions analyse East African poetry, French Algerian poetry, Zulu poetry, and "Rara" chants in Yoruba oral poetry. Donatus I. Nwoga writes a general article on modern African poetry. The new books reviewed include Mazisi Kunene's Zulu Poems and Okot p'Bitek's Two Songs: "Song of Prisoner" and "Song of Malaya" and Taban lo Liyong's Another Nigger Dead.

The re-issue of archival volumes ALT 1 to ALT 14 makes the complete series available and provides the historical perspective of these early contributions to the literature and its criticism. The intention of the African Literature Today series [ALT] was, and still is, to encourage African writing in any language, whether of fiction, poetry or plays, and also to encourage its criticism. The critic's role, according toEldred Durosimi Jones in his 1968 Introduction to ALT 1, is to make the work accessible to a wider readership and to help establish literary standards for African literature: "The more permissive the publisher's policy is,the more necessary becomes the function of the critic." This book combines the first 4 volumes in the series, which had been published as single volumes between 1968 and 1970, then combined into one volume in 1972. It includes Bernth Lindfors' essay "The palm wine with which Achebe's words are eaten", plus early reviews of Elechi Amadi's The Concubine, Aime Cesaire's Une Saison au Congo, Flora Nwapa's Efuru and Ngugi's A Grainof Wheat.

Is the woman writer free to follow her own creative impulse and write about what she pleases? Reflects the emergence of accomplished works by African women writers. North America: Africa World Press

North America: Africa World Press

This work features articles which examine the works of new African writers who have appeared (or who have developed significantly) in the last two decades in all of the genres.< This work features articles which examine the works of new African writers who have appeared (or who have developed significantly) in the last two decades in all of the genres. North America: Africa World Press

North America: Africa World Press

The experience of childhood as examined in the works of African writers. This volume examines linguistic, literary, gender and generation issues in both autobiographies and fictional treatments of childhood in the works of Camara Laye, Wole Soyinka, Mongo Beti, Chinua Achebe, Ben Okri, Zaynab Alkali, Buchi Emecheta, Tsitsi Dangarembga, Athol Fugard and Issac Mogotsi. North America: Africa World Press