The State of African Literature Now
There is an abundance of it on US soil; it seems American publishers have discovered African writers (never mind that that haven't discovered me yet, because I haven't given them a chance to). I remember in the 90s, when I came to this country, I would scour book shelves, in bookstores and libraries, but it was hard to find many books by African writers. Yes, there was Achebe, and of course Ngugi, Soyinka. I needed more though. I couldn't find Marechera (I came to the realization that he had not penetrated the American market). I couldn't find Nervous Conditions, nor Why Don't You Carve Other animals. I couldn't find Bones, The Harvest of Thorns; I couldn't find The Beautiful Ones Are Not Yet Born; I couldn't find Song of Lawino, nor even The Breast of the Earth. I was okay I guess, because then I made it a mission to find more Toni Morrison, James Baldwin, Richard Wright, Charles Johnson and others in the African American canon. It was good that th...