The literary works of African writers in

English are part of the African

literature. This body of works refers to
the ones not only produced in Afro-
Asiatic and African languages, but also
to those works by Africans in English,
French, and other European languages.
 A few of the common themes in the
works of African writers are the
oppression of African people by the
colonizers, the European influences
on the native African culture, racial
discrimination, and pride in African
past and resilience.
 Chinua Achebe (1930–2013) – This Nigerian
writer was known for his novel Things Fall
Apart (1958), considered as the best known African
novel of the 20th century. It deals with emergent
Africa, where native communities, like Achebe’s
Igbo community, came in contact with white
missionaries and its colonizers. The novel is the
first in sometimes called The African Trilogy. It
was followed by No Longer at Ease, published in
1960, and then Arrow of God in 1964.
 Wole Soyinka – This Nigerian writer
received the Nobel Prize for Literature in
1986, becoming the first black African to
receive such award. As a playwright, he
wrote the satire A Dance of the
Forests(1963), his first important play that
depicts the traditions of his people, the
Yoruba. It was staged in 1960 during the
Nigerian independence celebrations. Also,
he wrote fiction and poetry.
 Example
“The Telephone Conversation” by Wole Soyinka

 Wole Soyinka’s poem “The Telephone Conversation” first appeared in his

collection Modern Poetry from Africa (1963). As the title suggests, the
poem is about a telephone conversation between an African man and a
white woman. Considering to rent the apartment owned by the white
woman, the African man confesses, saying “I hate a wasted journey—I am
African.” Then as the conversation goes, the woman shows her true colors.
She asks, “HOW DARK?” then follows it up with another question, “ARE
YOU LIGHT/ OR VERY DARK.”
.” Then asks again, “ARE YOU DARK? OR VERY LIGHT?”
Then the African man clarifies the question, saying “You mean—
like plain or milk chocolate?” Then he settles on this response
“West African sepia... Down in my passport.” Perhaps, out of
ignorance, the woman says that she does not know the color. To
simplify, the African man says, “Like brunette.” Confirming what
she already thinks about the African man, the woman says
“THAT’S DARK, ISN’T IT?” Towards the end of the poetry, the
African man tries to describe the colors of the different parts of
his body to the woman. The poem ends with an invitation from the
African man for the white woman, saying “Madam . . . wouldn’t
you rather/ see for yourself?”
 Nadine Gordimer (1923–2014) – This South African
writer received the Nobel Prize for Literature in
1991. She was known for her works that dealt with the
effects of apartheid on her country. Apartheid was a
system in which people of color had less political and
economic rights than that of the white people, so the
former was forced to live separately from the latter. An
ardent opponent of such system, she wrote novels that
focused on the oppression of nonwhite characters like A
World of Strangers (1958), The Late Bourgeois
World (1966), Burger’s Daughter(1979), and July’s
People (1981), all of which were banned in her country.
 Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – This Nigerian writer is
known for her widely-acclaimed novels Purple
Hibiscus (2003), Half of a Yellow Sun (2006),
and Americanah (2013), all of which won awards. The
story of Purple Hibiscus is told through a fifteen-year-old
girl named Kambili as she together with her family endured
domestic violence in the hands of her father. The story
of Half of a Yellow Sun took place during the Nigerian Civil
War or Biafran War (1967–1970). Lastly, Americanah tells
the story of a young Nigerian woman that came to the US
to study and to stay for work.
 Example:
“A Private Experience” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

 “A Private Experience” is one of the short stories in the author’s

collection The Thing Around Your Neck published in 2009. It
tells the story of two women, one named Chika and the other
unnamed. Chika is an Igbo, one of the largest ethnic groups of
Africa, and an outward Christian (she wears a rosary that her
mother gave her, but she does not pray or believe in God). On the
other hand, the unnamed woman is a Hausa, another large
African ethnic group, and a devout Muslim .
They cross paths during a riot at a market in the city
of Kano, northern Nigeria. Both confused and scared,
they ran away from the market and hid in a small,
abandoned store. Stuck together, the two women start
to talk and eventually learn more things about each
other. Chika tells the woman that her sister Nnedi was
with her at the market and that they are both
university students.
She learns that the woman sells onions for a living. The two
women become closer when the woman shows Chika her breasts
with cracked nipples. Chika, who is studying medicine, examines
the breasts and learns that the woman has just had her fifth child.
She then advises the woman to rub some lotion on her nipples
after feeding her baby and to put the nipple and the areola into
the baby’s mouth while it feeds. The woman’s eldest daughter,
Halima, was at the bus stop selling groundnuts when the
confusion began.
 At the mention of her daughter’s name, the woman cries. As she
wipes her tears away, she says, “Allah keep your sister and
Halima in safe place.” After more than three hours, Chika
ventures out into the street to go home, anxious to see her sister
and her auntie. She leaves the woman and promises to come
back for her and her daughter. However, when she sees and
smells a recently burned body in the street, she gets terrified and
runs back to the small store, accidentally cutting her leg. The
woman at the store cleans the wound and wraps it with her
scarf. Chika stays there with the woman until morning when it
is safe to leave the store.
 Explanation:

 In different parts of the narrative, the narrator gives a brief glimpse of

what happens in the future. For instance, after Chika shuts the windows
of the small store where she and the unnamed woman are hiding, the
narrator tells the reader what Chika will find out eventually—that Chika
will see the burned cars and will learn that the riot started when some
Muslims chopped off an Igbo man’s head for driving over a Koran with
his car. Another instance is that after Chika mentions her sister’s name
to the woman, the narrator tells the reader what Chika will later do—that
Chika will go to hospital mortuaries to look for her sister, but she will
never find her.
 Summary
Literary works by African writers in English
like Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka,
Chimamanda Adichie, and Nadine Gordimer
are part of African literature, a body of
works produced in Afro-Asiatic and African
languages as well as those made by Africans
in English, French, and other European
languages.