Africa has produced remarkable literary geniuses and exciting, adventurous literary works in English – a language once considered the preserve of one of the continent’s colonial rulers. African writing in English is as diverse as the continent itself – from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie to J M Coetzee, Chinua Achebe to Nawal El Saadawi, and Tsitsi Dangarembga to Bessie Head. It reflects powerful statements of the African identity that shapes its writers; an identity which, in turn, they constantly interrogate and review. The A – Z of African Writers offers you a personal guided tour through some of Africa’s best writing in English. Covering over 200 writers, the A – Z of African Writers serves as an introduction to modern African writing in English. It offers the reader the opportunity to consider new and emerging talents alongside their established counterparts and allows us to experience writers from different countries rubbing shoulders with one another in an exciting blend of talent and skill. Writer and compiler Robin Malan has spent his working life teaching English, notably 15 years as Head of English at Waterford Kamhlaba College in Swaziland, where he also ran a small bookshop specialising in African literature in English. He has taught in the Drama Department at Stellenbosch University, and has tutored in the English Department at the University of Cape Town. He is the compiler of various well-known anthologies of poems, plays and short stories, and is the editor of English Alive, the annual anthology of writing in high schools in southern Africa. He is the Chairperson of the South African national section of IBBY, the International Board on Books for Young People. In 2001, he was awarded the Molteno Medal for Lifetime Service to Literature. He lives in Cape Town.

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