Unajua? – Black Girl is a movie by Ousmane Sembène made from his short story in Tribal Scars and other stories. 10 famous African writers and their works below.
Ousmane Sembène was one of the many talented and famous African writers whose works are in the African Writers Series.
The African Writers Series (AWS) is a collection of books first published by Heinemann in post-colonial Africa. AWS books largely shaped modern African literature and influenced the world. Learn about the African Writers Series > here < .
This article is all about 10 famous African writers and their works. You will read about the famous African writers’ lives and about their works in the AWS.
This article is part of the African Writers Series series
10 FAMOUS AFRICAN WRITERS AND THEIR WORKS IN THE AFRICAN WRITERS SERIES
Context
The African Writers Series published books by writers from Africa at an important time in history. Thanks to African independence movements, by the 1960s most African countries were independent and free from colonialism, which brought a lot of change to peoples’ lives.
Among the famous African writers were novelists, poets, playwrights, activists and even politicians who reflected that change in their works like in Things Fall Apart (1962)* and Weep Not Child (1964). They often wrote about serious and ongoing issues like human rights, racial discrimination, colonialism and feminism. Some writers were put in prison for their work in the AWS like Jack Mapanje and Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o.
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List of African writers and their works :
This article gives you a list of African writers and their works in the African Writers Series.
#1 Famous African Writers
Chinua Achebe
Born in Colonial Nigeria, Chinua Achebe was a writer who was one of the most important African authors of his time. He was the editorial advisor of the African Writers Series for 10 years.
Chinua Achebe wrote about life in Nigeria before, during and after colonialism.
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His novel Things Fall Apart is the first book in the AWS. It is part of a trilogy with No Longer at Ease (1963) and Arrow of God (1965). Things Fall Apart is a very popular book around the world; it is listed in the All-TIME 100 Best Novels and the 100 Most Influential Novels (BBC News).
Chinua Achebe wrote many more books like A Man of the People (1966); Anthills of the Savannah (1988) and Girls at War (1972) – the 100th novel in the AWS.
Carlo Bavagnoli, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
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#2 Famous African Writers
Steve Biko
Steve Biko was born in South Africa. He was an important anti-apartheid activist, African nationalist and a major figure in the Black Consciousness Movement.
In 1977, he became a political martyr after he was murdered by South African officers.
Steve Biko shared his ideas in articles in which he spread the phrase “black is beautiful” which came from the USA and was inspired by the Négritude Movement. His writings were published posthumously in his AWS book: I Write What I Like (1979).
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#3 Famous African Writers
Wole Soyinka
Born in colonial Nigeria, Wole Soyinka is a writer and one of the best playwrights and poets. In 1986, Wole Soyinka became the first African to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.
He wrote The Interpreters (1970) and edited Poems of Black Africa (1975). His works also appear in the The Heinemann Book of African Poetry in English (1990) and Gathering Seaweed: African Prison Writing (2002).
Geraldo Magela/Agência Senado, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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#4 Famous African Writers
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o
Born in Colonial Kenya, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o is an African writer famous for his novels and plays like Weep Not, Child (1964) which was the first English-language novel published by an East African.
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o wrote many popular books in the African Writers Series about life in Kenya during and after colonisation.
He was imprisoned for writing Petals of Blood (1977) which is set during the Mau Mau War. While in prison he wrote – on toilet-paper – Devil on the Cross (1982), or Caitaani mũtharaba-Inĩ, the first modern novel in Gikuyu.
Niccolò Caranti, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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#5 Famous African Writers
Abdulrazak Gurnah
Abdulrazak Gurnah is a famous Tanzanian writer born on the Sultanate of Zanzibar but became a refugee from the Zanzibar Revolution of 1964.
In 2021, he won the Nobel Prize in Literature “for his uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism and the fates of the refugee in the gulf between cultures and continents”.
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Abdulrazak Gurnah was the editorial advisor of the African Writers Series. His writings appear in the African Short Stories (1985). His other works like Paradise (1994) share similar themes with AWS books.
Amrei-Marie, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
#6 Famous African Writers
Naguib Mahfouz
Born in Cairo in the Khedivate of Egypt, Naguib Mahfouz was a famous African writer and the “Father of modern Arabic literature”. He won the 1988 Nobel Prize in Literature.
His works in the African Writers Series include Children of Gebelawi (1981), Midaq Allet (1975) and a short story in Egyptian short stories (1978). Naguib Mahfouz is the Arab writer with the most works that have been turned into films.
Producer at Arabic Wikipedia., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
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#7 Famous African Writers
Nadine Gordimer
Born in the Union of South Africa, Nadine Gordimer was a famous African writer; she won the 1991 Nobel Prize in Literature. She was an anti-apartheid activist and even helped Nelson Mandela edit his speech: I Am Prepared to Die.
Nadine Gordimer wrote novels about anti-apartheid independence movements. She also wrote shorts stories and essays in books like South African Short Stories (1994), Stories from central and southern Africa. (1983) and African Short Stories (1985).
Her AWS books include Some Monday for Sure (1976) and Crimes of Conscience: Selected Short Stories (1991).
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#8 Famous African Writers
Ama Ata Aidoo
Ama Ata Aidoo was a Ghanaian writer and politician born in the Gold Coast. She was the Minister of Education in 1982 and worked for the Ministry of Education of Zimbabwe.
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Ama Ata Aidoo was the first published African woman playwright with The Dilemma of a Ghost (1965). In the African Writers Series, she wrote The Girl Who Can and Other Stories (2002) and Changes: A Love Story (2003).
Her short stories appear in the AWS books: African Short Stories. (1985), African Women’s Poetry (1995) and Opening Spaces: Contemporary African Women’s Writing (1999)
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#9 Famous African Writers
Ousmane Sembène
Ousmane Sembène was a Senegalese film director, producer and writer. He was born in Casamance in the French West Africa colony. He was one of the greatest African filmmakers and the “Father of African film”.
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His AWS works include God’s Bits of Wood (1970) – rated a masterpiece, The Money-Order; with, White Genesis (1972) and Tribal Scars and other stories (1974).
His first film and cinema classic, Black Girl (1966), was made from his short story “The Promised Land” taken from Tribal Scars.
#10 Famous African Writers
Mariama Bâ
Mariama Bâ was a Senegalese writer whose writing especially highlighted injustices that women experienced.
In the African Writers Series she wrote So long a letter (1981) which is in part about her life and West African women’s lives. In 1980, So a long letter won the first Noma Award for Publishing in Africa.
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“The woman writer in Africa has a special task… There is still so much injustice… In the family, in the institutions, in society, in the street, in political organizations, discrimination reigns supreme… Like men, we must use literature as a non-violent but effective weapon.” – Mariama Bâ
Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Today
These famous African writers, and very many more, have laid the foundations for and influenced African literature and the world. Books from the African Writers Series are still relevant and studied around the world. Reading their books helps us learn about history and culture.
Who are the famous writers in your region?
Education is learning a lot about how little you know.
~ African Proverb ~
If you liked this article about check other articles in the African Writers Series
*According to AWS publication dates.
Word Bank📚🧑🏿🏫
Famous
Literature
Posthumously
to Publish
Read More 🙂🙂🙂
Articles
La Fonction politique des littératures africaines écrites by Mariama Bâ
Nobel Prize in Literature 1986 – Press release (Wole Soyinka)
Nobel Prize in Literature 1988 – Press release (Naguib Mahfouz)
Nobel Prize in Literature 1991 – Press release (Nadine Gordimer)
Nobel Prize in Literature 2021 – Press release (Abdulrazak Gurnah)
Books
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
Weep Not, Child by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o
Movies
Black Girl by Ousmane Sembène
References
Wikipedia Contributors. “Heinemann African Writers Series.” Wikipedia, 14 June 2023, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinemann_African_Writers_Series.
—. “Chinua Achebe.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 8 Mar. 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinua_Achebe.
—. “Steve Biko.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 16 Mar. 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Biko.
—. “Wole Soyinka.” Wikipedia, 14 Apr. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wole_Soyinka.
—. “Ngũgĩ Wa Thiong’o.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 25 July 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ng%C5%A9g%C4%A9_wa_Thiong%27o.
Wikipedia Contributors. “Abdulrazak Gurnah.” Wikipedia, 8 Oct. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdulrazak_Gurnah.
—. “Naguib Mahfouz.” Wikipedia, 10 Dec. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naguib_Mahfouz.
—. “Nadine Gordimer.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 7 Aug. 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nadine_Gordimer.
—. “Ama Ata Aidoo.” Wikipedia, 25 Feb. 2024, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ama_Ata_Aidoo.
—. “Ousmane Sembène.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 30 Oct. 2023, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ousmane_Semb%C3%A8ne.
—. “Mariama Bâ.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 11 Nov. 2023, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariama_B%C3%A2.
The Nobel Prize. “The Nobel Prize in Literature 1991.” NobelPrize.org, 2014, www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1991/gordimer/facts/.
For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen. Romans 11:36
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