Talk:List of African writers by country

Planning
Please help to fill in at least stubs for the authors on this page. If you would like to concentrate on a particular country or set of authors, please indicate them here. Shorne 22:25, 6 Nov 2004 (UTC)


 * I am going to work on the Lusophone countries: Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, and São Tomé e Príncipe. Others are welcome to help. Shorne 22:25, 6 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * Benin and Togo are mine comrade. - Xed 22:47, 6 Nov 2004 (UTC)


 * After the holidays I'm planning on working on the Congos and Ethiopia. I intend to be off after this message though.--T. Anthony 08:11, 18 December 2005 (UTC)


 * Started on that with some Congolese writers. I'm going to focus on Ethiopians ones for a time as I seem to be running into a bit of snag on the Congo, well for now.--T. Anthony 22:21, 29 December 2005 (UTC)


 * Im really confused here. Im new to the Wiki thing and wondered how in the world South Africa has no entry in African Literature. Could someone please explain. I dont think Im up to creating the whole category so whats an easy fix? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Walkzuluwar (talk • contribs) 14:03, 20 March 2007 (UTC).

List of countries completed
I've completed the list of countries. Please add authors for the following, which are still unrepresented. Shorne 00:03, 7 Nov 2004 (UTC)


 * Cameroon Done. Shorne 00:13, 7 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * Comoros
 * The Gambia Done. Shorne 00:56, 7 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * Liberia Done. Shorne 00:56, 7 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * Libya
 * Mala&#373;i Done. Shorne 01:13, 7 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * Mauritania
 * Namibia
 * Réunion
 * Seychelles
 * Swaziland
 * Western Sahara
 * Zambia

By the way, be sure to check the spelling of names. I just found an article that existed but was not linked here because the name was misspelt. Shorne 00:56, 7 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Missing writers will have to be added to List of African writers too. - Xed 01:12, 7 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Why somebody wrote Naguib Mahfouz died in 1994? God be praised, he's still alive, long live the classic! I've corrected that User:Kjcm2

There is a misspelling: It's not "Mary Karoro Okurut" but "Mary Karooro Okurut" - I corrected that. Fmaj —Preceding unsigned comment added by Fmaj7 (talk • contribs) 23:29, 27 May 2008 (UTC)

Breaking off longer lists into their own article?
There's a partial overlap between this article's list of South African writers, and the list at List_of_South_African_writers. I'd like to merge the two, but first would like consensus on where the list belongs. My feeling is that this list will get too long and unwieldy to be on one page. Those countries that currently only have a few writers listed should have them listed here, but as these lists get longer they can get broken off into their own lists (with only a link here). The South African list can be substantially longer, as there's a bit of a boom happening now, with lots of new authors being published. Greenman 12:13, 4 August 2005 (UTC)
 * If no one has any objections, then I'll shortly start removing the SA writers from here, and the SA list will become the definitive one. Greenman 10:09, 11 August 2005 (UTC)
 * I have broken off the long list of Nigerians writers and moved them to List of Nigerian writers.--Ezeu 22:34, 3 January 2006 (UTC)

Note. List of Senegalese writers which was broken away from here some time back is on AFD for deletion at Articles for deletion/List of Senegalese writers. --Ezeu 00:01, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

Merge with List of African writers
I have suggested that List of African writers be merged into this list. They are duplicates, and certainly there is no gain in having both. / --Ezeu 00:04, 21 November 2005 (UTC)


 * Strongly agree, although the Talk page could perhaps keep a list of unassigned authors, rather than letting these be deleted. JackyR 03:34, 29 November 2005 (UTC)


 * Probably a bit bold, but I have redirected that page to this one, and added a todo list on top of this page. Hopefully I am not stepping on too many toes. --Ezeu 00:57, 30 November 2005 (UTC)

Category: African writers
OK, I'm now well confused. I started a stub for Musaemura Zimunya, virtously adding categories so he appears under And now I find I have to manually add him to the List of African writers and the List of African writers (by country). Is this me mucking things up or just the Way of the Wiki? JackyR 03:42, 29 November 2005 (UTC)
 * People: By occupation: Writers: By nationality: Zimbabwean
 * Zimbabwe: People: By occupation: Writers
 * Writers by nationality

Congolese names
I changed Léone to Léonie as that seems like the right person. I'm wondering though about something else. I found a Congolese writer named Lima-Baleka Bosek' Ilolo do you think that's who is meant by Lila-Baleka Bosek?Ilolo? I don't want to start that until I know for sure.--T. Anthony 21:36, 29 December 2005 (UTC)

I just kind of hit a wall or something on Congo(Brazzaville) writers so I think I'll let others take it. In fact I think I did most of the work I wanted to on this list. It's difficult in a way, but rewarding as Africa is so undercovered.--T. Anthony 02:58, 6 January 2006 (UTC)

Deletion
I've deleted Adam O'Hirsi from the list. The article Adam O'Hirsi was reposted after it was deleted for lack of notability.

DELETE all non wiki article names
I feel that we really have to clean up these lists to make them more credible, therefore my suggestion is to remove all names that are “red”, as they have no wiki page and are therefore pointless to the user of the encyclopaedia as they cannot be verified. Let us remember that the wiki is an encyclopaedia on the internet and if someone is searching for something or some one, then there must be clear links that lead them to useful information, at the very least a stub.

I will give it a few days to see if others agree or disagree. If agree or no reply, I shall start removing all “red” names and check all current names and links. If you disagree, please provide a valid reason. The Wiki is a team effort, where we all work together. My aim is to clean up and help to improve the Wiki.--BSTemple (talk) 10:44, 15 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Dealing with existing red links


 * In general, red links should not be removed from articles if they link to something that could plausibly sustain an article. An existing red link can indicate that a new article is needed. At any time, a Wikipedian may independently write an article on the linked-to subject, and when this happens, there's already a link ready and waiting for it. The red link also gives readers the opportunity to click on it to create the needed article on the spot.
 * In topic/author lists, it is useful to include every topic/author you can possibly find or think of that could plausibly sustain an article. When they are turned into links, the list immediately shows where the gaps in Wikipedia's coverage for that subject are, since all of the topics missing articles will show up in red. Such lists are useful tools in developing subject areas on Wikipedia, as they show where work is needed most.
 * The red link may identify a need to create a redirect to another author.
 * Some WikiProjects have bots that determine how many times a certain red link appears in Wikipedia. This is used to determine what articles are the most needed. Editors can also, after clicking on a red link, use the "what links here" function to determine how many times the subject has been red linked.S711 (talk) 12:59, 23 February 2009 (UTC)
 * We have the same arguement on other talk pages, again I say, I remove red linked names from lists because they are unverifiable, and a Wiki Article thus verifies them. Please remember this is an encyclopaedia that not everyone is just using to edit, but will be used for study, research and knowledge. If there are red link names, they are not useful. What if there is a red link name dkhdhd jhfmhfd or how about Mickey Mooouse in a list, do we leave these names? This makes a mockery of the Wikipedia and makes it a dream for vandals. Who vets red link names in lists? Only a Wiki article, backed by References makes for a solid encyclopaedia. My aim is not to make a mass of pointless edits, but to help, along with others, in making for a sound useful Wikipedia. I do not claim I am right and others are wrong, but I have explained my actions. --BSTemple (talk) 16:53, 24 February 2009 (UTC)


 * Note. In topic/author lists, it is NOT useful to include every topic/author you can possibly find or think of. Please read Verifiability, Stand-alone lists esp. 5 Appropriate topics for lists - 5.1 Lists of people, which clearly states "Selected lists of people should be selected for importance/notability in that category and should have Wikipedia articles (or the reasonable expectation of an article in the future)." Many of these names do not have a reasonable chance of a Wikipedia article, indeed many are not even verified to be even in the list in the first place let alone an article done. Also look at WP:NOT. I feel that S711 is wrong in this case. An exception is a list of people by nationality/ethnicity, NOT their profession. When you get to professions etc, then these must be verifiable and not just put up on someone whim.--BSTemple (talk) 09:27, 8 March 2009 (UTC)

Photo
I added a photo for one of the redlinked authors from Lesotho - when she has her own article it can be moved there. Dcoetzee 00:01, 10 April 2009 (UTC)

Manu Herbstein
I have dual South African and Ghanaian citizenship. My name appears in the South African list but not in the Ghanaian list. Would someone with more Wiki skill than I have please add my name to the Ghanaian list? Thanks. Manuherb (talk) 10:07, 11 September 2009 (UTC)

Nigerian writer addition
Err...I do believe you forgot to mention Chinua Achebe, author of Things Fall Apart among others. I added him! :) Thanks!

Niger OCR
I fixed some spacing and spelling errors in the Niger section. It appears that this text may have been generated using an OCR. If that is the case it may likely be a copyright violation.--Rock soup 23:47, 14 July 2011 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Rock soup (talk • contribs)
 * not the right place for that material anyway, so I've removed it.Dsp13 (talk) 09:13, 15 July 2011 (UTC)

Why this list?
I have a few problems with the idea of this list. First, why? what is the purpose? As a continental 'list' of writers, what purpose does it serve? For starters, what is an "African"? The article at African people struggles to arrive at a definition and has a number of subsidiary articles. Without a clear concept of what is an African, this list is meaningless. The list contains names of authors who more correctly should be described as "Arab(ic) authors/ writers"; it contains many Europeans who live in Africa, either having 'stayed behind' after decolonisation or having arrived after that; there are the Afrikaners and Indians in Eastern and Southern Africa, etc. Just as a teaser, why are there no articles on "Asian writers", "European writers", "North American writers", "South American writers"? Exactly because it is near impossible to define what is an Asian, an European, etc etc. At best, this article could be called "List of writers in Africa by country". Rui &#39;&#39;Gabriel&#39;&#39; Correia (talk) 19:09, 8 April 2013 (UTC)
 * It is a convention, apparently. Since you are discussing this generally as a question, and not as a deletion suggestion, I'll point out that other stuff exists.  Though of course it would be reasonable to break these up into individual per country lists.--Epeefleche (talk) 20:07, 8 April 2013 (UTC)
 * Examples always make the best arguments - Tolkien is here listed as an African writer .... enough said ;-) Does that not make for a convncing argument why the page must/ should at least be renamed? Rui &#39;&#39;Gabriel&#39;&#39; Correia (talk) 21:42, 8 April 2013 (UTC)
 * It's an issue that bedevils all list articles of places, religions, and the like. Individuals may arguable belong to more than one place, religion, etc.  It's a much far-ranging issue than just this list.  The way we have generally handled the issue is to recognize that it does have this issue as to inclusion, and talk through particular instances on talk pages.


 * As far as Tolkien is concerned, he is listed in many cats on his page, including one that categorizes him as (partly) from South Africa. If you have an issue with that, his talk page would be a good place to start.--Epeefleche (talk) 21:52, 8 April 2013 (UTC)

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Should we list countries no longer on the map, e.g. Rhodesia?
For instance, Doris Lessing? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.74.14.178 (talk) 18:35, 11 June 2017 (UTC)
 * Doris Lessing is already listed in the Zimbabwean list. Greenman (talk) 20:57, 11 June 2017 (UTC)

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