Penguin African Writers Series Debuts with Marechera, Aribisala, Momplé, wa Thiong’o, Tadjo and Achebe

by Tracey on Jul 29th, 2009

Penguin Books is delighted to announce that the first six titles in the new Penguin African Writers Series are now available at bookstores across the country.

Literary titan Chinua Achebe is the Penguin AWS’s Editorial Adviser – and the great writer’s book of short stories, Girls at War and Other Stories, comprises part of the initial list.

We’re immensely proud to present six must-have African reads:

Black Sunlight by Dambudzo Marechera (Zimbabwe): In an unspecified setting the narrative traces the fortunes of a group of anarchists in revolt against a military-fascist-capitalist opposition. The central character is a press photographer, Chris, whose camera lens becomes the device through which Marechera cleverly unravels the story’s incidents. Marechera said the book was influenced by the Baader-Meinhof story about German terrorists: “I really tried to put terrorism into a historical perspective, neither applauding their acts nor condemning them. The photographer does not take sides, he just takes the press photographs.”

Hangman’s Game by Karen King-Aribisala (Guyana): The narrative interweaves two storylines: a bloody revolt in Demerara, Guyana, in 1823 and a military coup in Nigeria in the late 1990s. The latter focuses on the terrifying experiences of a pregnant writer, her minister husband and their housekeeper during the murderous era of a ‘military democracy’, where the tyrant is known only as “Butcher Boy”.

The second storyline is the basis of the woman’s novel, set in her native Guyana, with historical characters who mirror their counterparts in the real world. Insecurities about her marriage begin to spiral out of control and paranoia sets in as the woman is unable to distinguish between real-life threats and the constructions of her imagination. The hangman’s noose from the simple spelling guessing game and the children’s nursery rhyme Three Blind Mice pervade in this studiously plotted and subtly told story.

Neighbours: The story of a murder by Lília Momplé (Mozambique): On the eve of the festival of Eid, Narguiss, who ‘never wanted anything to do with politics’, is more preoccupied with family problems than with the radio news of kidnappings and murders. Before dawn, however, she and other innocent people seeking to lead peaceful lives are caught up in a vicious conspiracy to infiltrate and destabilise Mozambique.

Skilfully weaving together present events and past memories, Lília Momplé gives us, in the drama of a few short hours, an insight into the consequences of Mozambique’s complex history. Beautifully written. Snapshots into different homes on the eve of a major religious festival. Contrast between the past and age-old traditions and a new way of life.

Weep Not, Child by Ngugi wa Thiong’o (Kenya): Two boys stand on a rubbish heap and look into the future. One boy is excited, he is beginning school; the other, his brother, is an apprentice carpenter. Together they will serve their country – the teacher and the craftsman. But this is Kenya and the times are against them. In the forests, the Mau Mau are waging war against the white government, and the two brothers, Njoroge and Kamau, and the rest of their family, need to decide where their loyalties lie. For the practical man the choice is simple, but for Njoroge the scholar, the dream of progress through learning is a hard one to give up.

A powerful, moving story that details the effects of the Mau Mau war on the lives of ordinary men and women.

As the Crow Flies by Véronique Tadjo (Ivory Coast): Véronique Tadjo weaves together a rich tapestry of voices to tell stories of parting and return, suffering, healing and desire in a lyrical and moving exploration of the human heart. Like a bird in flight, the reader travels across a borderless landscape composed of tales of everyday existence, news reports, allegories and ancestral myths, becoming aware in the course of the journey of the interconnection of individual lives.

Tadjo’s prose is so ephemeral that it’s difficult to remember that she is writing about heartache and pain. The narrative is presented as a series of chapters in varying length, with characters who are nameless and faceless, representing everyman and everywoman.

Girls at War and Other Stories by Chinua Achebe (Nigeria): A collection of 13 short stories Achebe wrote over 20 years, with the earliest dating back to his student days at Ibadan, Nigeria, and the latest to stories of the Nigerian civil war. This was the first collection of Achebe short stories to be made available to a wide public. “Girls at War”, the title story, is about the tragic effects of war on the civilian population, in particular on one girl, who starts with high ideals, which vanish as the war drags on and the need for food replaces the need for ideals.

Book details