Talk:List of African writers

Excellent beginning. There's a useful link at http://www.geocities.com/africanwriters/. RickK 04:51, 2 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Thanks - many additions to come, I hope...

I've gone and expanded the list - it's is much longer than before. It also has multiple problems, which I hope we will sort out together over the course of time, but which I think should be addressed, so everyone is aware of them while editing:


 * Some authors seem to be extremely minor – like prize winners in literary competitions, thus talented but not accomplished. Or they are stories from everyday life that are published in a volume (this especially goes for some of the ones from Lesotho). This is a problem insofar as they are still listed on websites with long lists of African authors where the biographies are very ambiguous and shoddy. I went for the more inclusive route, hoping we’d weed out writers who are less known after a while. Please, if you’re from an African country and/or you are knowledgeable about the literature there, check some of the authors from your country to see if you’ve heard of them. That should give a good indication.

authors deleted for the above reason:Kady Guissé Diop, Gugulethu S. Dlamini, J.C de Graft, Joséphine Guidy Wandja, Anne Kangah, Marie-Constance Komara, Fibla Koné, Mariam Koné, Adèle Kouassi, Emilie Koumba, Josette Lima, Lucie Mba, Gbané Salimata, Rosannés de Souza, Célia Vieyra (--Pteron 10:14, 6 Mar 2004 (UTC)) -- ‘Mamoroosi ‘Maseele Qacha, Tembela Sekele Sr. Alina Khabane, Inahaneng Tsekana, Moroesi Akhionbare, Mapheleba Lekheto, 'Masefinela Mphuthing, ‘M’atseleng Lentsoenyane, Monica Nthabeleng Ramarothole, Clement Moiketsi Matjelo, Nomakhosi Mntuyedwa, Mpine Tente, K. Limakatso Kendall (--Pteron 19:49, 6 Mar 2004 (UTC)) -- Myriam Bah (--Pteron 20:37, 6 Mar 2004 (UTC))

This concerns especially authors from these sites (as I’m not all too sure what these are and how they are to be evaluated but the authors featured here are in the Femme Ecrivains listings):


 * SAISON D'AMOUR ET DE COLÈRE : Poèmes et nouvelles du Sahel
 * Le Prix Isaïe Biton Koulibaly de la Nouvelle


 * Some authors might not really qualify as ‘African’ writers. This site is meant for the geographic region instead of a cultural group, i.e. excludes African Europeans/ Americans/ Asians and Afro-Caribbean writers. An African Diaspora writers list would be a great undertaking, but this list also includes Africans of European /Asian/ American decent, who would be excluded from that list. It’s really a case by case decision, but when writing about an African author when you have more info on their biography, please check how well they fit the description. I’ve marked where authors were born outside of Africa, when known.
 * Writers who publish in European languages seem to be over-represented. Check for authors who publish in African languages.
 * Some authors could well have died – their Internet biographies are often dated.
 * Authors from South Africa, Senegal, Cameroon and Côte d’Ivoire are utterly over-represented. This has of course got to do with the long-standing literary traditions in those countries... Still, please look for authors from other countries.
 * Some names are pseudonyms – when known I have used the most commonly used name as the entry and entered the other name(s) at other places in the list
 * If there are more articles about African authors on Wikipedia, help search for them. Include a backlink to this page on those pages, so more people can learn about African literature

Concerning which ones to write about first: I recommend choosing the authors that are studied at University level, whose books are featured in the Top 100 African books of the 20th century list etc. first of all.

--Pteron 03:38, 5 Mar 2004 (UTC)

List of African writers (by country)
For the next two weeks, there will be a collaborative effort to supply at least stubs for as many writers on List of African writers (by country) as possible. Please contribute.

I would also like to know how these two lists will be kept in sync. I would propose an automated mechanism, but there seems to be no good way to specify how these names are to be sorted. Any suggestions? Shorne 01:53, 7 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Authors' Languages?
Is there any way these lists could indicate what languages the authors wrote in? This would be immensely helpful for people interested in Postcolonial literature, Francophone literature and the like. Thanks. NYArtsnWords 16:42, 8 September 2005 (UTC)

The list by country should be helpful in this respect, as long as you know the colonial history of Africa. ZacharyS 23:52, 20 November 2005 (UTC)


 * Helpful only with respect to writers in the colonial languages... If/when wiki lists more indigenous language writings, as requested above, it will become more important (and more useful for African readers) to list the languages a writer has published in. JackyR 03:28, 29 November 2005 (UTC)

Merge with List of African writers (by country)
I have suggested that this list be merged with List of African writers (by country). They are duplicates, and certainly there is no gain in having both. Please discuss this at Talk:List of African writers (by country). / --Ezeu 00:09, 21 November 2005 (UTC)