The document explores the diverse literary contributions of contemporary African writers, highlighting their engagement with social, political, and cultural issues. Key figures include Chinua Achebe, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and Ngugi wa Thiong'o, each addressing themes like colonialism, feminism, and identity through their works. It showcases their influential novels, poetry, and the impact of their writings in reflecting and challenging the African experience.

1. CONTEMPORARY AFRICAN WRITERS
BY: RUEL L. MONTEFOLKA

2. In a continent as ethnically and culturally diverse as Africa, it
comes as no surprise that the literature that has emerged
from it be equally diverse and multifaceted. Dealing with a
range of social and cultural issues, from women’s rights and
feminism to post-war and post-colonial identity, here are
some of Africa’s best contemporary writers.

3. CHINUA ACHEBE
One of the world’s most widely
recognized and praised writers, Chinua
Achebe wrote some of the most
extraordinary works of the 20th
century. His most famous
novel, Things Fall Apart (1958), is a
devastating depiction of the clash
between traditional tribal values and
the effects of colonial rule, as well as
the tension between masculinity and
femininity in highly patriarchal
societies. Achebe is also a noted
literary critic, particularly known for
his passionate critique of Joseph
Conrad’s Heart of Darkness (1899), in
which he accuses the popular novel of
rampant racism through its othering of
the African continent and its people.

4. LOVE CYCLE
(A Poem) by Chinua Achebe
Posted on 2013/25/04 by sueddie
At dawn slowly
the sun withdraws his
long misty arms of
embrace. Happy lovers
whose exertions leave
no aftertaste nor slush
of love’s combustion; Earth
perfumed in dewdrop
fragrance wakes
to whispers of
soft-eyed light…
Later he will wear out his
temper
ploughing the vast acres
of heaven and take it
out of her in burning
darts of anger. Long
accustomed to such caprice
she waits patiently
for evening when thoughts
of another night will
restore his mellowness
and her power
over him.
(From Beware Soul Brother and Other Poems – 1971. Published in the
United States of America as Christmas in Biafra and other Poems -
1971)

5. RIVER OF VOICES
I saw
the rays of the sun
beaming,
as I watched
by the riverside.
I saw
the drops of rain
splashing,
as I watched
by the riverside,
and I saw
the rays of the sun
kissing the raindrops,
as I watched
by the riverside.
I saw
colours of the rainbow
in the sky
rising,
as I watched
by the riverside.
But I saw no reflection
of these colours on the rippling
river –
as I wondered
by the riverside
Throwing a probing stone,
I see ripples –
ripples of voices rising on the
river –
Clamouring,
troubled tides rushing to my feet,
as I waited
by the riverside – disillusioned.
(“River of Voices“ selected from Colourless
Rainbow, Coast2Coast, Lagos, p. 104)

6. Related articles
• STUBBORN SOUL (A POEM) by Kator
Hule (sueddie.wordpress.com)
• Celebrating a Literary Giant: Rest In Peace, Chinua
Achebe! (wholewomannetwork.org)
• Prof Chinua Achebe is dead (vanguardngr.com)
• River of Voices (for Chinua
Achebe) (senatorihenyen.wordpress.com)
• Senator Ihenyen: Chinua Achebe Died
Unfulfilled (senatorihenyen.wordpress.com)
• Chinua Achebe: “If you don’t like someone’s story,
write your own.” (rave2.wordpress.com)

7. CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE
Born in Nigeria in 1977, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is part of a new
generation of African writers taking the literary world by storm. Adichie’s
works are primarily character-driven, interweaving the background of her
native Nigeria and social and political events into the narrative. Her novel
Purple Hibiscus (2003) is a bildungsroman, depicting the life experience of
Kambili and her family during a military coup, while her latest
work Americanah (2013) is an insightful portrayal of Nigerian immigrant life
and race relations in America and the western world. Adichie’s works have
been met with overwhelming praise and have been nominated for and won
numerous awards, including the Orange Prize and Booker Prize.

9. AYI KWEI ARMAH
Ayi Kwei Armah’s novels are
known for their intense, powerful
depictions of political devastation
and social frustration in Armah’s
native Ghana, told from the point
of view of the individual. His
works were greatly influenced by
French existential philosophers,
such as Jean Paul Sartre and
Albert Camus, and as such hold
themes of despair, disillusionment
and irrationality. His most famous
work, The Beautyful Ones Are Not
Yet Born (1968) centers around an
unnamed protagonist who
attempts to understand his self
and his country in the wake of
post-independence.

11. MARIAMA BÂ
One of Africa’s most influential women
authors, Mariama Bâ is known for her
powerful feminist texts, which address
the issues of gender inequality in her
native Senegal and wider Africa. Bâ
herself experienced many of the
prejudices facing women: she struggled
for an education against her traditional
grandparents, and was left to look after
her nine children after divorcing a
prominent politician. Her anger and
frustration at the patriarchal structures
which defined her life spill over into her
literature: her novel So Long A
Letter (1981) depicts, simultaneously,
its protagonist’s strength and
powerlessness within marriage and
wider society.

12. 1. “Friendship has splendors that love knows not. It
grows stronger when crossed, whereas obstacles kill
love. Friendship resists time, which wearies and
severs couples. It has heights unknown to love.”
― Mariama Bâ, So Long a Letter
2. “The flavour of life is love. The salt of life is also
love.”
― Mariama Bâ, So Long a Letter
3. “In a word, a man's success depends on feminine
support.” ― Mariama Bâ, So Long a Letter
4. “A woman must marry the man who loves her, but
never the one she loves; that is the secret of lasting
happiness.” ― Mariama Bâ

13. NURUDDIN FARAH
Born in Somalia in 1945,
Nuruddin Farah has written
numerous plays, novels and short
stories, all of which revolve
around his experiences of his
native country. The title of his
first novel From a Crooked
Rib (1970) stems from a Somalian
proverb “God created woman
from a crooked rib, and anyone
who trieth to straighten it,
breaketh it”, and is a
commentary on the sufferings of
women in Somalian society
through the narrative of a young
woman trapped in an unhappy
marriage. His subsequent works
feature similar social criticism,
dealing with themes of war and
post-colonial identity.

15. AMINATTA FORNA
Born in Glasgow but raised in Sierra
Leone, Aminatta Forna first drew
attention for her memoir The Devil
That Danced on Water (2003), an
extraordinarily brave account of
her family’s experiences living in
war-torn Sierra Leone, and in
particular her father’s tragic fate as
a political dissident. Forna has gone
on to write several novels, each of
them critically acclaimed: her
work The Memory of Love (2010)
juxtaposes personal stories of love
and loss within the wider context
of the devastation of the Sierre
Leone civil war, and was nominated
for the Orange Prize for Fiction.

17. NADINE GORDIMER
One of the apartheid era’s most
prolific writers, Nadine Gordimer’s
works powerfully explore social,
moral, and racial issues in a South
Africa under apartheid rule. Despite
winning a Nobel Prize in Literature for
her prodigious skills in portraying a
society interwoven with racial
tensions, Gordimer’s most famous
and controversial works were banned
from South Africa for daring to speak
out against the oppressive
governmental structures of the time.
Her novel Burger’s Daughter follows
the struggles of a group of anti-
apartheid activists, and was read in
secret by Nelson Mandela during his
time on Robben Island.

19. ALAIN MABANCKOU
Originating from the Republic of Congo, Alain Mabanckou’s works are
written primarily in French, and are well known for their biting wit, sharp
satire and insightful social commentary into both Africa and African
immigrants in France. His novels are strikingly character-focused, often
featuring ensemble casts of figures, such as his book Broken Glass, which
focuses on a former Congolese teacher and his interactions with the locals
in the bar he frequents, or his novel Black Bazar, which details the
experiences of various African immigrants in an Afro-Cuban bar in Paris.

20. Sunday, 12 February 2017
THERE IS NOTHING WORSE
Alain Mabanckou
there is nothing worse
than the grief of black-rhun palms
the sleep of swamps
the silence of passerines
there is nothing worse
than the gossiping
of red ants
the confabs of praying mantis
eyes of agate
in dark lairs
the sky overcast with folded cloth
god turns his back on us how can one read
the tables of the law
translate the omens
of night
for everything was written
Alain Mabanckou (born 1966) Republic of Congo
Translated by Patrick Williamson
Source: Rain Poems of London

21. BEN OKRI
Ben Okri’s childhood was divided
between England and time in his
native Nigeria. His young
experience greatly informed his
future writing: his first, highly
acclaimed novels Flowers and
Shadows (1980) and The
Landscapes Within (1981) were
reflections on the devastation of
the Nigerian civil war which Okri
himself observed firsthand. His
later novels met with equal
praise: The Famished Road (1991),
which tells the story of Azaro, a
spirit child, is a fascinating blend
of realism and depictions of the
spirit world, and won the Booker
Prize.

24. The Awakening Age
Ben Okri
Living is a Fire
Living is a cross
That any one of the rock-faces
Comprehends.
We are drawn
To many seas.
We drown wholesomely
In the failures of confrontation.
The rain
Drenching
Our doorsteps
Has nothing to do
With the simplest desires
And lacerations
We bring
To the smallest acts
Of living.
The child
On the broken catwalk
Hearing the sounds of our hunger
Without understanding
Throws echoes back
To the earliest abandonments
Of love.
Minor devastations preceding
Horror
Resonate the ineffable.
The mothers that wake
At the slightest sound
And the fathers that
Smoke all night
And the rest of us who are
Vigilantes from the demons
Of oppressed sleep
Find at dawn the clearest
Images of bewilderment.
Even the best things
Collapse beneath the weight
Of ignorance.
Living is a fire
That any one of the wave-lashes
Comprehends.
___
Source:
http://www.universeofpoetry.org/nigeria.shtml

25. NGUGI WA THIONG’O
Ngugi wa Thiong’o is one of
Africa’s most important and
influential postcolonial writers. He
began his writing career with
novels written in English, which
nevertheless revolved around
postcolonial themes of the
individual and the community in
Africa versus colonial powers and
cultures. Wa Thiong’o was
imprisoned without trial for over a
year by the government for the
staging of a politically
controversial play; after his
release, he committed to writing
works only in his native Gikuyi and
Swahili, citing language as a key
tool for decolonizing the mindset
and culture of African readers and
writers.

27. Many people do not know that Jesus did not speak Latin or
English or Hebrew; he spoke Aramaic. But nobody knows
that language. So we're talking about the Bible itself being a
translation of a translation of a translation. And, in reality, it
has affected people's lives in history.
- Ngugi wa Thiong'o
I was wondering why I was put in prison for working in an
African language when I had not been put in prison for
working in English. So really, in prison I started thinking
more seriously about the relation between language and
power.
Ngugi wa Thiong'o

28. Evaluation:
In ½ sheet of paper. Explain within 100 words the
following quotes.
1. “If you don't understand, ask questions. If you're uncomfortable
about asking questions, say you are uncomfortable about asking
questions and then ask anyway. It's easy to tell when a question is
coming from a good place. Then listen some more. Sometimes
people just want to feel heard. Here's to possibilities of friendship
and connection and understanding.” ― Chimamanda Ngozi
Adichie, Americanah
2. “I think you travel to search and you come back home to find
yourself there.”
― Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

29. References
1. https://sueddie.wordpress.com/2013/04/25/love-cycle-a-poem-
by-chinua-achebe/
2. https://hellopoetry.com/ben-okri/
3. https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/502766.Mariama_B_
4. http://brucespoems.blogspot.com/2017/02/there-is-nothing-
worse-alain-mabanckou.html
5. http://www.azquotes.com/author/36612-Ngugi_wa_Thiong_o
6. https://www.oldquotes.com/author.php?tag=ng%C5%A9g%C4%A9
+wa+thiong%5C%27o