REPRECENTATIVE

TEXT @ AUTHOR
ASIA, NORTH AMERICA, LATIN AMERICA, AFRICA

SUBMITTED BY:
GROUP IV

VANESSA ROLDAN EAN CHRISTOPHER DEL MUNDO

RINA PALMERO MARK RONNIE CATALAN
ALVIN POSTRADO PHILIP ULTIANO
JERIC REGIS

SUBMITTED TO:
MRS. MERYGEN PRECLARO
5Asian authors you need to know: Man Asian
Literary Prize longlist

1. Three Sisters, by Bi Feiyu

Through the stories of three sisters daughters of a
lecherous Communist Party secretary popular Chinese
novelist and screenwriter Bi Feiyu explores the difficult
lives of women in Communist China in the 1970s and
80s.

2. Way to Go by Upamanyu Chatterjee

"Way to Go" is a darkly comic novel by Indian
novelist Upamanyu Chatterjee (author of
"English, August") and a sequel to "The Last
Burden," Chatterjee's 1994 novel. Both works
satirize contemporary Indian life. At the center of
both is a dysfunctional family of two brothers
with a father who in "Way to Go"
mysteriously disappears one morning.

3. Dahanu Road, by Anosh Irani

In "Dahanu Road" Anosh Irani Indian by birth,
but now a longtime resident of Canada tells the
story of three generations of Persians who have
become landowners in the country outside
Bombay, and how their lives are upended by the
mysterious death of a tribal worker on their estate.
4. "Serious Men, by Manu Joseph

This debut novel is a powerful exploration of

questions of class in India. "Serious Men" tells the
story of a Dalit (untouchable) secretary who works
for a high-class Brahmin at Bombay's Institute of
Theory and Research and invents stories about his
disabled son in a desperate effort to advance
socially.

5. The Thing About Thugs, by Tabish Khair

Set in Victorian England, this work by Indian
poet-novelist Tabish Khair tells the story of an
Indian villager who travels to London with an
English captain and fascinates him with the
story of his life as a murderous thug.
European Authors
Portugal

Lus de Cames Os Lusadas

Os Lusadas, translated in English as The Lusiads, is regarded as the best

Portuguese piece of literature. His writer Lus Vaz de Cames (c. 1524
1580) became the major figure of Portuguese culture all over the world. Os
Lusadas is an epic and lyrical poetry in the vein of Homers Iliad and
Odyssey interpreting the Portuguese voyages of discovery during the 15th
and 16th centuries.

Spain

Miguel de Cervantes Don Quixote

Miguel de Cervantes (1547 1616) left to Spanish culture its most

prominent masterpiece, in the name of Don Quixote. Fully entitled
as The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha,
Cervantes emblematic work of Western literature is considered as
the first modern novel. The story depicts an idealist dreamer who
feels himself as a modern knight.

France

Molire Tartuffe LAvare Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme Lcole de femmes

Actually, there is not in the theater plays of Jean-Baptiste Poquelin,

known by his stage name Molire (x 1673), a major play more
famous than another. The greatest master of comedy in Western
literature wrote 33 plays from which almost the half bears a peculiar
influence on French culture.
Iceland

Hallgrmur Ptursson Passuslmar

The most influential work of literature in Iceland is without doubt the

Passuslmar, translated in English as the Passion Hymns. Hallgrmur
Ptursson (1614 1674), a famous poet, priest and minister in
Hvalfjrur, wrote a collection of 50 poetic texts exploring the Passion
narrative, from the point where Christ enters the Garden of Gethsemane
to his death and burial.

Ireland

Thomas Moore Irish Melodies

The poet, singer and songwriter Thomas Moore (1779 1852) is an Irish
literature hero. He composed the Irish Melodies containing the
prominent song The Minstrel Boy and poem The Last Rose of Summer.
The song in particular became famous in Ireland, as it was sung during
the United States Civil War and the World War I

United-Kingdom

William Shakespeare Hamlet Othello Macbeth Romeo and Juliet

Worlds most renowned dramatist William Shakespeare (1564 1616)

became Englands national poet after the success of his renowned tragedies
Hamlet, Othllo, Macbeth or even more Romeo and Juliet. There are still a
lot of controversies on his life and on the possibility that some of his works
were written by others.
Norway

Henrik Wergeland Mennesket

After Four Hundred Years of Darkness according to Ibsens sentence, during

which Norway was a part of Denmark, the rebirth of Norwegian Literature
was to be found in the works of Henrik Wergeland (1808 1845), a poet
known for his Magnum opus Mennesket (meaning Man),who was
remodeled from his previous work Skabelsen, Mennesket og Messias
(Creation, Man and the Messiah). This poem depicts the history of Man and
Gods plan for humanity, through the character of Stella, the embodiment of
the writers ideal love.

Sweden

Carl Michael Bellman Fredmans epistlar Fredmans snger

Carl Michael Bellman (1740 1795) is certainly the most influential poet and
composer of Sweden. His main work is undoubtedly the Fredmans snger
(Songs of Fredman), a collection of 65 poems and songs, and the Fredmans
epistler (Epistles of Fredman). His texts, often comical in their description of
Stockholm, were always tackling the tragic dimension of human being with
topics such as drunkenness, prostitution, illness and death.

Finland

Johan Ludvig Runeberg Fnrik Stls sgner

The national poet of Finland Johan Ludvig Runeberg (1804 -1877) wrote in Swedish. His main
literature work Fnrik Stls sgner (in English, The Tales of Ensign Stl) is regarded as the
greatest Finnish epic poem dealing with the Finnish War of 180809 with Russia. This conflict
resulted in the incorporation of the Grand Duchy of Finland into the Russian Empire.

Denmark

Adam Oehlenschlger Hakon Jarl Dd

Adam Oehlenschlger (1779 1850) is a central figure of Danish literature

and was crowned in 1829 as the King of Nordic poetry. His masterpiece
is certainly his first tragedy entitled Hakon Jarl Dd, who was the de facto
ruler of Norway from about 975 to 995 . He is also the writer of the Danish
national anthem Der er et yndigt land.
Netherlands

Joost van den Vondel Joannes de Boetgezant

The greatest Dutch poet and literature hero is to be found in the 17th century.
Joost van den Vondel (1587 1679) wrote many famous playwrights, such as
Lucifer or Adam in Ballingschap but his prominent writing was the
epicJoannes de Boetgezant which tells the history of John the Baptist. This
play is still frequently performed.

Belgium

Maurice Maeterlinck LOiseau bleu

The Belgian playwright, poet and essayist Maurice Maeterlinck (1862

1949) was a prominent figure of Belgian Symbolism. He was awarded in
1911 the Nobel Prize of Literature. His renowned drama LOiseau bleu
(The Blue Bird) was first performed in 1909 and has been turned since into
several films and a TV series. It tells the story of Mytyl and her brother
Tyltyl seeking happiness, represented by The Blue Bird of Happiness, aided
by the good fairy Brylune.

Luxemburg

Edmond de la Fontaine Mumm Siss

The national poet, ethnographer, jurist and lyricist Edmond de la Fontaine

(1823 1891) was better known under his penname Dicks. He remains
today one of the very important figure of Luxembourgian literature. He wrote
in particular the comedy entitled Mumm Siss.
Germany

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Faust

Faust is considered as the supreme genius of modern German literature, and his
writer, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe is regarded as the most prominent figure of
the Weimar Classicism. The tragic play of Faust depicts the soul of a young
scholar trapped by Mephistopheles, an embodiment of the devil, who made a bet
with God that he could defect his favourite human being.

Switzerland

Albrecht von Haller Die Alpen

As there is no dominant national language, there is no single Swiss literature, but

four different literatures, in German, French, Italian and Romansh. As the
German literature was the first to be developed, the most emblematic writers and
poets are to be found in the German speaking community.Albrecht von Haller
(1708 1777) published his poem of 490 hexameters Die Alpen (The Alps) in
1729 and was the first author to consider the natural and idyllic life in the
mountains with pure inhabitants, in contrast with the corrupt and decadent
existence of the dwellers in the plains.

Italy

Dante Alighieri La divina commedia

Dante Alighieri (1265 1321) remains the essential reference of Italian literature.
In Italy the prose writer has been given the name of il Sommo Poeta (the
Supreme Poet) or just il Poeta. In the epic poem The Divine Comedy, Dante
describes on the surface his travels through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven; but at a
deeper level, it represents allegorically the souls journey towards God.

Malta

Dun Karm Psaila L-Innu Malti

The bard of MaltaDun Karm Psaila (1871 1961) is regarder as the national
poeat of the isle. He is known for having written L-Innu Malti(the Maltese
Hymn). The poems of Dun Karm Psaila are well known for their religious and
patriotic currents, and so are the verses written for the anthem. The hymn was
already being sung in December 1922, mostly in governmental schools.
Austria

Franz Grillparzer Der Traum, ein Lebe

The Austrian dramatist Franz Grillparzer (1791 1872) who also wrote the
oration for Ludwig van Beethovens funeral wrote the famous drama The Dream,
a Life. It tells the aspirations of Rustan, an ambitious young peasant, that are
shadowed forth in the heros dream, before awaking from his nightmare to realize
the truth that all earthly ambitions and aspirations are vanity; the only true
happiness is contentment with ones lot and inner peace.

Czech Republic

Jan Neruda Povdky malostransk

The Czech journalist, writer and poet, Jan Neruda (1834 1891) was one of the
most prominent representatives of Czech Realism and a member of the May
school. His masterpiece Povdky malostransk (Tales of the Little Side) is a
collection of short stories, which take the reader to the Lesser Quarter, with its
several streets and yards, shops, churches, houses, and restaurants.

Slovakia

Pavol Orszgh Hviezdoslav Hjnikova ena

Pavol Orszgh Hviezdoslav (1849 1921) was chiefly known for his epic poems
and lyrist works of literature. His novel Hjnikova ena (The Gamekeepers
Wife) has been described by his fellows as a living picture of the forest. The
story takes place in the Carpathians and tells de story of a gamekeeper and his
wife Hanka, who kills the son of their master when he attempts to rape her.

Poland

Adam Mickiewicz Pan Tadeusz

Adam Mickiewicz (1789 1855) is one of Polands Three Bards, along with
Juliusz Sowacki (18091849) and Zygmunt Krasiski (18121859) and regarded
as the greatest poet in all of Polish literature. The epic poem Pan Tadeusz (Sir
Thaddeus) is a compulsory reading in Polish schools as it depicts the national
epic of Poland. The story takes place over at the time when Poland-Lithuania had
already been divided and erased from the political map of Europe, in 1811.
Lithuania

Kristijonas Donelaitis Metai

The Lutheran pastor Kristijonas Donelaitis (1714 1780) was the first poet to
write a poem in Lithuanian. Metai (The Seasons) became one of the principal
works of Lithuanian poetry and a classic work of Lithuanian literature. It portrays
everyday life of Lithuanian peasants, their struggle with serfdom, and the annual
cycle of life.

Latvia

Rainis Uguns un nakts

Rainis is the pseudonym for the Latvian poet, playwright and politicanJnis
Pliekns (1865 1929) who became a leading representative of Latvian ethnic
symbolism and literature. Uguns un nakts (Fire and Night) and Indulis un rija
(Indulis und Arija) are his most famous playwright. Rainis also gained fame
with his translation of Goethes Faust.

Estonia

Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald Kalevipoeg

The most famous representative of Estonian literature is undoubtedly Friedrich

Reinhold Kreutzwald (1803 1882), regarded today as the national literature of
Estonia. His poem in alliterative verse Kalevipoeg (Kalevs Son) is considered
as the Estonian national epic. It tells the story of Kalevipoeg a giant hero of old
Estonian folklore who travels to Finland in search of his kidnapped mother.

Byelorussia

Yakub Kolas

Yakub Kolas, or in Belarusian (1882 1956) was designated as

Peoples Poet of the Byelorussian SSR in 1926. His poem (The
Fishermans Hut) is about the fight after unification of Belarus with the Soviet
state. In his works of art, he often portrayed peasant life style in Byelorussia.
Ukraine

Taras Shevchenko Zapovit

Taras Shevchenkos (1814 1861) is regarded as the founder of Ukrainian

literature and, the greatest contributor to Ukrainian language. His works of art
contributed significantly to the growth of Ukrainian national consciousness. His
poem Zapovit (Testament) has been translated into more than 60 languages. It
starts with the famous verse When I am dead, bury me/In my beloved Ukraine.

Moldova & Romania

Mihai Eminescu Luceafrul

Luceafrul (The Morning Star) is generally regarded as Mihai Eminescus

(1850 1889) greatest work of art and a major contribution to Moldovan culture.
Luceafr in Romanian is the name of the planet Venus which in folklore is
associated with demons but is also linked to the Greek Titan Hyperion.

Hungary

Sndor Petfi Nemzeti dal

Sndor Petfis poems inspired the revolution in the Kingdom of Hungary which
eventually led to the independence war against the Austrian Empire. Sndor
Petfi (1823 1849) was himself involved in the Hungarian Revolution of 1848
and is supposed to have died in the battlefields. His Nemzeti dal(National
Poem) was first read on March 15 in Vrsmarty Square in Budapest to a
gathering crowd, which by the end was chanting the refrain while marching
around the city.

Slovenia

France Preeren Krst pri Savici

The Slovene national poet France Preeren (1800 1849) is a very inspiring
source for the Slovene literature. Krst pri Savici translated as The Baptism at
Savica Falls is an epic poem dedicated in a first part to Preerens recently
deceased friend, then describing the battle between Christians and pagan Slavs
and finally portraying the romantic relationship between rtomir and Bogomila.
Croatia

Marko Maruli Judita

The Christian humanist Marko Maruli (1450 1524) is regarded as the Croatian
national poet or the father of Croatian literature. He wrote in 1501 Judita
(Judith) which intends to show to the common people the exemplary model of
Biblical Judith, for it to see what can the yield the confidence to God and eternal
justice.

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Ivo Andri Na Drini uprija

The 1961 Nobel Price of Literature Ivo Andri (1892 1975) was a novelist and
one of the most influential Bosnian writer. He published in 1961 Na Drini
uprija (The Bridge on the Drina), a novel depicting four centuries of Ottoman
and subsequently Austro-Hungarian power in the region and the lives of local
inhabitants, with a particular focus on Muslims and Orthodox Christians living in
Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Serbia & Montenegro

Petar II Petrovi-Njego

Petar II Petrovi-Njego (1813 1851) is the greatest Serbian poet who was also
the ruler of Montenegro who turned his state from a theocracy into a secular
state. He notably wrote the modern epic poem and play meaning
in English The Mountain Wreath. Set in eighteenth-century Montenegro, the
poem deals with attempts of Njegos ancestor Danilo to regulate relations among
the regions warring tribes.

Macedonia

Koo Racin

Kosta Apostolov Solev, nicknamed Koo Racin (1908 1943) is regarded as one
of the founder of Macedonian Literature. Besides being a revolutionary, he wrote
one of the most prominent works of literature of Macedonian culture, namely
(White Dawns). White Dawns is a collection of 12 poems dealing
with Macedonian way of life.
Albania

Naim Frashri Bagti e Bujqsi

The national poet Naim Frashri (1846 1900) is regarded as one of the
most prominent figures of the Albanian national awakening. He wrote in
particular the masterpiece Bagti e Bujqsi (Herds and Tillage) in two
acts, the first one presenting the pastoral life, the beauties of the sheep
flock, and the second focused on agriculture on the way of life of
farmers.

Bulgaria

Ivan Vazov

The Patriarch of Bulgarian literature Ivan Vazov (1850 1921) was a poet,
novelist and playwright whose most famous work of literature was the novel
meaning Under the Yoke translated into more than 30 languages. It deals
with the history of the Ottoman oppression of Bulgaria.

Greece

Homer

Homer (ca. 8th century BC) is without doubt the founder of the Western classical
tradition and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. His influence on
the history of literature is enormous as his Iliad and Odyssey are considered as
the Western canon of literature.

Turkey

Fuzl Dvn- Fuzl

Ful (1483 1556) was the pen name of the Ottoman poet, writer and thinker
Muhammad bin Suleyman. He is considered as the greatest contributor to the
Dvn tradition, notably by compiling poems in his Dvn- Fuzl, mainly dealing
with love.
 The 10 best African writers (who arent
Chinua Achebe)
Professor John Masterson, author of The Disorder of Things: A Foucauldian Approach to the
Work of Nuruddin Farah, provides a list of some of the continents other rich talents.

1 Mariama B

Born in Dakar, Senegal, in 1929, B has come to be regarded as one of

the most original writers to have emerged from west Africa.

Her life and work were preoccupied with issues such as gender
relations, power and inequality, as well as the ways in which these were
framed and affected by African and Islamic cultural beliefs. In many
ways, her own narrative corresponded with a key feminist mantra: The
personal is political.

Her early struggle for education informed her writing, both fictional and critical.

Mariama B

Her first novel, So Long a Letter (1981), uses the raw material of her own life to create a
narrative which, owing to its resonance with the experience of other African women, is widely
acknowledged as a seminal feminist text.

She died before her second novel, Scarlet Song (1986), was published.

Since her death, academics and general readers alike have come to appreciate the peculiar power
and considerable contribution of Bs writing, as well as her political legacy.

While she composed her work in French, it has been translated into many different languages,
and is read and studied worldwide.

Favourite text: So Long a Letter

2 Buchi Emecheta

Born in Lagos, Nigeria, in 1944, Emechetas life and work has, in

effect, set the stage for a new generation of west African female
writers, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie perhaps the most high profile
among them.

Like Adichie, much of Emechetas fiction is drawn from her diasporic

experiences, having been educated in the former colonial centre of
London before making a life and home there.
Emechetas early and heavily autobiographical novels, such as In the Ditch (1972) and Second-
Class Citizen (1974), are key black British texts, concerned as they are with the struggles of
Nigerian women and children to adapt to a home that is foreign in more ways than one.

Buchi Emecheta

In addition to her work as a novelist, Emecheta is celebrated for her writing for children as well
as for a series of critical pieces.

Like Chinua Achebe and Adichie, Emecheta has provided a fictional exploration of the Biafran
War in Destination Biafra (1982).

As with B and Bessie Head, much of Emechetas most striking work, from The Slave Girl
(1977) to The Joys of Motherhood (1979), is preoccupied with the ways in which writing can
function as a mode of resistance within patriarchal and, therefore, often hostile cultures and
contexts.

As such, a novel like the more recent The New Tribe (1999) supplements her oeuvre in
provocative ways.

Favourite text: The Joys of Motherhood

3 Bessie Head

Born in Pietermaritzburg in 1937, Head passed away in 1986. Since her

death, the significance and influence of her life and work has been
brought more starkly into focus.

She is best known for three novels When Rain Clouds Gather (1968),
Maru (1971) and A Question of Power (1974).

As with the writing of B and Emecheta, Heads fiction is preoccupied

with the issues, struggles and questions that defined her own highly
unique narrative.

One of her most pressing concerns was the relationship between racial identity and notions of
belonging, born as she was to a then forbidden union involving a black man and Scottish
woman.

If much contemporary post-colonial fiction is dominated by themes of hybridity and mixture,

often framed in somewhat saccharine ways, Heads experiences and writing attend to the pain,
sometimes even trauma, of being a mixed-race woman within a predominantly patriarchal, racist
society.

But as with B and Emecheta, the hope and beauty of her work comes from the creation of a
singular voice driven by her commitment to writing as a form of correcting injustice and offering
resistance.

Favourite text: A Question of Power

4 Ousmane Sembne

Born in Ziguinchor, southern Senegal, in 1923, Sembne is

widely acknowledged as a seminal figure in both African
literature and film.

As with B, Emecheta, Nuruddin Farah, Head, Ngugi wa

Thiongo and Yvonne Vera, Sembnes work, on both page and
screen, is centrally concerned with the cultural practices and
political discourses surrounding the female body in Africa.

Ousmane Sembne

Before his death in 2007, Sembne won critical acclaim for Moolaad (2004), a film that offers
an uncompromising exploration of female circumcision.

It was a suitably provocative end to a life and career dedicated to the belief that art should play
an interrogative, consciousness-raising role.

Alongside his scores of films, Sembne is probably best known for his second novel, which
translated from its original French into Gods Bits of Wood (1960), as well as Xala, a novella
written in 1973 that evolved into a film of the same name.

In their distinctive yet equally defiant ways, both texts attack political hypocrisy, whether
colonial or neocolonial, while also critiquing the excesses of an often violent patriarchal culture.

For readers and viewers on the African continent and beyond, Sembnes achievements and
influence are enormous.

Favourite text: Xala

5 Ngugi wa Thiongo

Born in Kamiriithu, Kenya, in 1938, Thiongo is one of the

most celebrated African intellectuals and writers.

He has enjoyed international acclaim as a novelist, essayist,

playwright, social commentator and activist.

The experience of British colonialism and the Mau Mau struggle for independence, as well as
Kenyas position in the neocolonial era preoccupy much of Ngugis thought and writing.
Ngugi wa Thiongo

He established himself with a series of novels published in the 1960s: Weep Not, Child (1964),
The River Between (1965) and A Grain of Wheat (1967).

His combination of a distinctive prose style with provocative subject matter would come to
define other works now considered canonical texts of African literature.

These include Petals of Blood (1977), the play Ngaahika Ndeenda (I Will Marry When I Want)
(1977) and Caitani Mutharabaini (1981), later translated into English as Devil on the Cross
(1982).

Volumes of essays and reflections, such as Decolonising the Mind (1986), Penpoints, Gunpoints
and Dreams (1998), as well as his prison memoir, Detained (1981), have also been influential for
generations of readers and scholars alike.

In 2004, he published his leviathan Gikuyu-language novel, Murogi wa Kagogo, translated as

Wizard of the Crow.

Favourite text: A Grain of Wheat

6 Nuruddin Farah

Born in Baidoa in what was Italian Somaliland in 1945, Farah has produced a series of novels,
plays, essays and journalistic reflections on his native Somalia.

His first novel, From a Crooked Rib (1970), established his concern with the particular struggles
of women in the Horn of Africa.

This has only endured and intensified throughout his more than 40-year career.

To date, Farah has written three novelistic trilogies.

Nuruddin Farah

The first, Variations on the Theme of an African Dictatorship, comprising Sweet and Sour Milk
(1979), Sardines (1981) and Close Sesame (1983), offers a quasi-Orwellian portrait of life under
autocratic power.

The second, Blood in the Sun, featuring Maps (1986), Gifts (1992) and Secrets (1998), is set
against the backdrop of civil conflict and famine in Somalia.

The most recent, Past Imperfect, made up of Links (2004), Knots (2007) and Crossbones (2011),
provides a fictional exploration of everything from the botched US-led Operation Restore Hope
to contemporary debates about international piracy.

Based in Cape Town, Farah has dedicated himself to telling stories about his homeland with a
view to disrupting some of the rather more reductive tendencies in both colonial discourse and
the contemporary media.
He is widely tipped to add his name to the list of African Nobel prize-winning writers.

Favourite text: Maps

7 Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Born in Enugu, Nigeria, in 1977, Adichie has received popular and critical
acclaim since the publication of her first novel, Purple Hibiscus, in 2003.

She is widely regarded as one of the most important voices to have

emerged in contemporary African literature and has been the recipient of
numerous prestigious awards.

Adichie is often spoken of in the same breath as Achebe, with many believing she has assumed
his creative mantel.

While meant as a form of tribute, such comparisons run the risk of deflecting attention from the
singularity of Adichies authorial voice and vision.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

With the publication of Half of a Yellow Sun in 2006, for instance, she explored the Biafran War
that was so central to Achebes literary project, among many others.

But there is no sense in which the novel is imitative, with its commercial and critical success
confirming Adichies unique presence on the global literary stage.

As an author who divides her time between Nigeria and the US, she has drawn on her own
experiences in a collection of short stories titled The Thing Around Your Neck (2009), as well as
her most recent novel, Americanah (2013).

On the basis of her achievements to date, many predict Adichies status and profile will continue
to grow.

Favourite text: Half of a Yellow Sun

8 Ayi Kwei Armah

Born in Takoradi, Ghana, in 1939, Armah is widely considered one of the most important African
writers to have emerged in the post-colonial period.

Educated at Harvard, Armah has worked as a translator and scriptwriter, in addition to his
activities as a novelist.
His first book, The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born (1968), has achieved something
approaching canonical status in Anglophone African literature.

With strong echoes of the French existential tradition associated with Sartre and Camus, the
novel is often presented as an exemplar of the literature of disillusionment.

Ayi Kwei Armah

It centres on a character trying to make sense of his life, as well as that of the nation, following
what can be seen as the betrayal of Ghanas independence dreams.

A critique of a system overrun by nepotism and corruption, the novel still packs a punch almost
50 years on.

While Armahs vision seems dominated by the grim and grimy, glimmers of hope for an
alternative future, for both the protagonist and the nation, do exist.

As such, arguably the most telling part of the title is not yet.

Armah followed The Beautyful Ones with Fragments (1970), Why Are We So Blest? (1972),
Two Thousand Seasons (1973), The Healers (1978), Osiris Rising (1995) and The Eloquence of
the Scribes (2006).

In so doing, he has secured his position as one of the most prominent and distinctive African
writers.

Favourite text: The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born

9 Yvonne Vera

Born in 1964 in Bulawayo in what was then Southern Rhodesia, Veras life was cut tragically
short when, in 2005, she died of meningitis aged just 40.

She has come to be regarded as one of the most important sub-Saharan female novelists to have
emerged in recent decades.

Her career began in earnest during her time as a student in Toronto, Canada, where she published
pieces in a local magazine.

This would prove the catalyst for a short story collection, Why Dont You Carve Other Animals
(1993), as well as a series of novels.

Yvonne Vera

These include Nehanda (1993), Without a Name (1994), Under the Tongue (1996), Butterfly
Burning (1998) and The Stone Virgins (2002).
Vera returned to Zimbabwe in 1995, and was a source of great inspiration and support to many
up-and-coming artists in her role as regional director of the national gallery in Bulawayo from
1997 to 2003.

That Vera was working on a new novel, Obedience, when she died shows her commitment to her
work even in the most debilitating of circumstances.

Her work is intimately concerned with the politics of the female body, in relation to such
traumatising experiences as infanticide, rape and abortion, seen in terms of wider issues
concerning the Zimbabwean body politic.

Favourite text: Butterfly Burning

10 Wole Soyinka

Born in Abeokuta, Nigeria, in 1934, Soyinkas career has spanned many genres from his work
as a playwright, poet, novelist and essayist and many guises, including regular appointments as
visiting professor at several top universities around the world.

Wole Soyinka

He won the Nobel prize in literature in 1986 and is often spoken of in the company of Achebe
and Ngugi.

Like his fellow Nigerian, Soyinka was outspoken on the subject of the Biafran War, calling for a
cease-fire in 1967.

He was subsequently imprisoned for just under two years, a period he recounts in his memoir,
The Man Died: Prison Notes (1972).

Throughout a more than 50-year career, Soyinka has produced scores of novels, poems and
plays. Some of his best-known work includes the plays The Trial of Brother Jero (1963), A
Dance of the Forests (1963), Death and the Kings Horseman (1975) and A Play of Giants
(1984), as well as the novels The Interpreters (1965) and Season of Anomy (1973).

Collections of his poetry include Poems from Prison (1969), A Shuttle in the Crypt (1972) and
Mandelas Earth and Other Poems (1988).

This considerable body of work has secured his status as one of the most prominent voices on
and from the continent. His plays are now as likely to be performed in London as they are in
Lagos.
AUTHOR FROM LATIN AMERICA

1. Yuri Herrera (Mexico): His delusional dystopian stories include nonexistent epidemics that
unearth violence between families and the governments most fearsome and Orwellian side.
Signs Preceding the End of the World (first edited in 2009 and then again in 2015) is a
breathtaking novel that narrates the mission of Makina, a young girl sent by her mother to rescue
her brother, whose track was lost in the US. In her way to the border, she faces all kinds of
dangers and must challenge the hostile macho-driven environment. Makinas character
encapsulates the Mexican immigrants Odyssey toward the north, as Herrera explores the
symbolic and psychological dimension that every transition carries. The Transmigration of
Bodies, his most recent novel, will be published in English in 2016.

2. Patricio Pron (Argentina): The shadows of the Argentine dictatorship follow this author in
the partially autobiographical novel My Fathers Ghost Is Climbing in the Rain (2013). The
writer comes back home to Argentina to say goodbye to his dying father. There, he finds a folder
full of documents that unveils his fathers obsession with a man whos disappeared. From there,
he has to face the secrets and the pain of his family, marked by a recent past of political
resistance against a brutal military regime. Pron was included by Granta Magazine in its 2010 list
of the 22 best of young Spanish-Language novelists.

3. Daniel Alarcn (Peru): Though he moved from Lima to Alabama when he was 3-years-old,
this Peruvian-American authors voice remains is wholly Latin American. He has appeared both
in the New Yorkers 20 Under 40 list as an American author and the Bogot 39 as a
Peruvian. His novel Lost City Radio (2007), tells the story of Norma, a host of a popular radio
program in a nameless South American country suffering the aftermath of the war. Norma tries to
keep alive the memory of those who have disappeared, including her missing husband. At Night
We Walk in Circles (2013) follows the struggles of Nelson, an actor who tries to put together the
production of a controversial political theater play in another after war unknown country.
Alarcn is also the founder and main anchor of the successful podcast Radio Ambulante, which
tells endearing tales about Latin America (some episodes are subtitled in English).

4. Guadalupe Nettel (Mexico): Born in 1973 in Mexico City, this author has won awards for her
novels and her short stories. In Natural Histories (2014), Nettel composes a mosaic of
unforgettable characters: theres the pregnant woman who spends her days observing how two
fishes fight, the bourgeois family whose apartment is taken over by cockroaches or the couple of
musicians who share a genital infection. Each tale explores the intersection between animal and
human behavior and how our biological instincts influence our the relationships. The Body
Where I was Born (2015) is an autobiographical novel in which the narrator recalls her childhood
and an eye anomaly from the couch of a psychoanalyst.

5. Andres Neuman (Argentina): Probably the most established author on this list, along with
Herrera, is Neuman, who wrote his debut novel, Bariloche, at the age of 22. The traveller of the
century (2011), translated into 10 languages, is his most popular work. The novel narrates the
story of Hans, a 19th-century traveller who stops to spend the night in Wandernburgo, a
mysterious city between Saxony and Prussia. The citys whimsical and shifting cartography and
all kinds of unexpected events impede him from leaving. Talking to ourselves (2014), a novel
narrated by the voices of a the father, a mother and a son, and The things we dont do (2014), a
compilation of short fiction stories, have also been translated into English.

6. Alejandro Zambra (Chile). This novelist and poet is considered by many to be the most
brilliant Chilean writer since Bolao. The addictive brevity of his work has received wonderful
reviews in the New Yorker. Bonsai (2008), his debut, tells the story of a young literature student
who decides to lock himself in a room to watch how a tiny tree grows. In The Private Lives of
Trees (2010), Zambra narrates a single night in which a literature professor waits for her partner
to return home while reading stories about trees to his stepdaughter. Ways of Going Home (2013)
begins with an earthquake as seen from the eyes of a child growing up in a suburb during
Pinochets dictatorship. If you want have a glimpse a Zambra, you can read Camilo, a short
fiction story published in the New Yorker and The Most Chilean Man, a story published in Vice
and included in his most recent compilation of short stories, My documents (2015).

7. Valeria Luiselli (Mexico): One of the youngest and most talented figures of Mexican
literature, Luisellis Faces in the Crowd (2013), a tale about the Spanish-speaking literary
diaspora in New York, won the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction and
the National Book Foundations 5 under 35 award. If you prefer non-fiction person, check out
her collection of essays Sidewalks (2014), which was a finalist PEN literary awards. Born in
Mexico in 1983 and raised in South Africa, Luiselli currently lives in New York City, where she
has taught creative writing at Columbia University. Her forthcoming novel The Story of My
Teeth, a tale of how a man tries to replace his repulsive teeth, will be published this fall.

8. Rodrigo Hasbn (Bolivia): Despite having lived in Ithaca, New York, where he works in his
doctorate in Latin American literature at University of Cornell, his books are not published in
English yet. That has not impede us of including this extremly talented Bolivian writer, who is
was selected by both Grantas and inBogot 39 lists. You only need to be a little patient:
Pushkin Press has confirmed to Quartz that it will publish one of his works next summer. It could
be Los das ms felices (The happiest days), an anthology of short stories about a group of
teenagers who, in the words of Hasbn, grow in each page; Los afectos (The affections), a
story about a German family exiled in Bolivia after the war that tries to find the Inca mythical
lost city of Paitit or El lugar del cuerpo (The bodys place), a tale of sexual abuse and incest.

9. Samanta Schweblin (Argentina): This Argentine author, who lives in Berlin, has been
largely awarded for her work, especially in short fiction stories. Birds in the Mouth (2013) is her
second compilation, titled after a tale about a 13-year-old girl who likes to eat live birds and a
worried divorced father. It is available in English as an e-book published by PEN Americas
Recommended Reading Series, which said about her: she has a gift for sketching comfortable
worlds and then disrupting them with images of dark, startling power. Schweblin was also
included in Grantas list.

This list has been crafted with guidance of lvaro Llorca (Libros del KO editorial), Manuel
Guedn (Demipage editorial), Francisco Llorca (Libros del Asteroide editorial), Santiago
Tobn, David M. Cop (Sexto Piso editorial), Valerie Miles (Granta Magazine), Laura Gastaldi
and Carlos Muoz. AUTHOR FROM NORTH AMERICA
AUTHOR FROM NORTH AMERICA
Kevin Barry
Barry is our Number One: this Irish writer has two
collections, There are Little Kingdoms (2007) and Dark
Lies the Island (2012), both of which are outstanding:
hilarious, poignant, bizarre, frightening and, above all,
inventive. Barrys prose, his local idiolect, his use of
imagery and his peerless dialogue hes a superstar. If
you want a sampler, try to find his story Beer Trip to
Llandudno if you ever read a better tale of middle-
aged male friendship than this, well buy you a pint.

Sarah Hall
Hall, a pretty prolific novelist, has only to date release one story
collection, The Beautiful Indifference (2011), but, man, will it blow
you away Shes just about the best writer about the Cumbrian
landscape in the North of England that weve ever encountered, and
her stories are enormously empathic: they pack a huge punch,
whether shes writing about decaying relationships, imminent death
or a teenage girls love affair with a dog- and horse-breeding clan.
One of our favourite stories, Butchers Perfume, was shortlisted
for the BBC National Short Story prize in 2010 and in 2013 she
snagged the top prize with another gem, Mrs F ox.

George Saunders
Sauders first collection, CivilWarLand In Bad Decline,
came out in 1996, but the rest of his work has emerged
this century, so well forgive him his early immersion.
Pastoralia (2000), In Persuasion Nation (2006) and
Tenth of December (2013) have cemented his
reputation as the guy that does weirdly compelling sort-
of-sci-fi, satirical work thats still tender and funny and
eminently readable. In fact, contrary to the prevalent
notion that the short story is on its last legs, Tenth of December was shortlisted for the 2014
Folio Prize and selected as one of the ten best books of 2013 by the editors of the New York
Times Book Review, and it managed to get to the number two spot on the New York Times
hardback bestseller list. Hows that for alive and kicking? Our favourite story? Try Brad
Carrigan, American. Youll never look at a TV show, or star, in quite the same way again.
Wells Tower
What a name, right? Towers onl y book to date is called
Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned (2009) and its lassoed
him a reputation as one of the foremost up-and-comers in short
story land. The books funny and harsh and diverse; its great o
contemporary America and its also a pretty good example of how
a writer can take a series of influences (Hemingway, for one, is in
evidence here) and twist them into something unique. Check out
On The Show as a sampler its set in a fairground and who
doesnt like that?

Jennifer Egan
Again, Egans first collection, Emerald City, came out in 1993, but
its her second, A Visit from the Goon Squad (2010, Pulitzer Prize-
winner) that brought her all the accolades. More accurately a short
story cycle rather than a collection, this et of int erlinked narratives
follows a group of people loosely connected to the music industry
in the USA from the mid twentieth-century until the near future;
its all about time and memory and how we can understand how our lives have shaped us. Its
witty and imaginative and brutal and very clever. The second story, ;The Gold Cure, is one of
our faves, but check out Great Rock and Roll Pauses if you want to see a short story told
entirely in PowerPoint. Oh, yes.

Kelly Link
Links got stories in anthologies all over the place,
but check out Stranger Things Happen (2o01),
Magic for Beginners (2006) and Pretty Monsters
(2008) to get the full effect. Shes generally
classified as fantasy or slipstream writer, but her
work is truly cross-genre in fact, shes one of
those writers that makes the whole idea of the
genre seem nothing more than a ridiculously
juvenile marketing scheme. Her stories are crazy
and magical and devastating and witty theyre
contemporary and timeless and mix urban realism
with a demented fairytale horror aesthetic. Your life aint worth living if you havent read Kelly
Link. The title story of Magic for Beginners is superb, but sos the sort-of-zombie story, The
Hortlak which shes made available here as a sampler.
Philip Ceallaigh
Ceallaigh is an Irish-born writer who s based in Bucharest
and is the author of two collections: Notes From A Turkish
Whorehouse (2006) and The Pleasant Light of Day (2009).
You could probably argue that he writes more about men
than women, and his stories are rarely set in his native
Ireland. Hes an editor of short stories as well as a writer, and
as an advocate of the form, he once told a journalist for the
Irish magazine Hot Press that if youve got something to say
and you can say it for less, thats the way to go. Were with him on that Have a look at
Walking Away, one of Anne Enrights selections for the Granta Book of the Irish Short Story
(2012).

Adam Marek
Last, but not least, the UKs Adam Marek, author of two
collections (Instruction Manual For Swallowing (2007) and
The Stone Thrower (2012)) is definitely a writer on the up. He
does sci-fi, ghost stories, realistic parent-and-child tales and
more quirky, yes, fantastical, yes, but throwaway, never.
Mareks stories linger. His story Fewer Things was shortlisted
for the Sunday Times EFG Short Story Prize in 2010, and thats a good start if you like your
fiction more straightforward check out Tamagotchi if you want something more offbeat.
Thats our ten, but we know theres more out there who deserve some love. If youve got any
recommendations, which make even the most hardened short story hater fall head over heels in
love, please let us know down below.