A BEAUTIFUL LIFE (Poem)
By KESA MAKAOTAWhen darkness engulfs my days,When dust chokes my breath,When fog enslaves my eyes and the rain shatters my skin.When laughter is but a beautiful enigma and joy fades into a distant...
View ArticleADEBAYO FALETI (1930 - 2017)
By O BolajiPa Adebayo Faleti, the renowned Yoruba writer (from Nigeria) died at the weekend. He was also a veteran actor, poet, translator, and tv facilitator - from inception.As a creative writer,...
View ArticleFerdinand Oyono's HOUSEBOY
This novel, which was written decades ago, is haunting and very powerful, evoking the colonial situation in black Africa in the past. It is very funny and very sombre and sad at the same time. The...
View ArticleFOR NTSWAKI
F O R N T S W A K IIt is a hackneyed cliche But how appropriate!Oh NTSWAKI! You were too young to depart this world! What a Calamitous Loss! The loss of a prized daughter, sister, mother......
View ArticleMAFIKA GWALA DIES
Yet another prominent renowned, veteran South African black writer is dead. This time it is celebrated poet, Mafika Gwala who breathed his last this week.SOUTH AFRICA (Pretoria) : Arts and Culture...
View ArticleTHE SUBLIME POETRY OF CHRISTOPHER OKIGBO
By Akeem Lasisi (PUNCH, Nigeria)The Christopher Okigbo Foundation rallied family and friends and of legendary poet, Christopher Okigbo, to the University of Ibadan (Nigeria), where the 50th anniversary...
View ArticleBILAKHULU! By Vonani Bila
Vonani Bila is one of the most accomplished poets from South Africa, never mind being a black man with exceedingly humble roots. Over the years he has published many works of poetry and generally...
View ArticleA SIMPLE LUST. By Denis Brutus
Denis Brutus, from southern Africa, was a very polished, assiduous poet. Think about "difficult" rather academic African poets – e.g Lenrie Peters, Wole Soyinka, Dambudzo Marechera - and most would...
View ArticleMINE BOY. By Peter Abrahams
The importance of this early novel from any black or coloured African in the pantheon of African literature can not be over emphasized. Pa Abrahams who sadly died this year after glimpsing becoming a...
View ArticleCHIEF O BOLAJI ON THE LATE FLAXMAN QOOPANE
The literary fraternity has been reeling with the recent death of Flaxman Qoopane, a long standing flamboyant journalist, author, poet, and literary activist. The award winning, incredibly prolific...
View ArticleDEMISE OF THE AFRICAN GREATS
By Raphael MokoenaThe publishing industry continues to trundle on, despite travails. Even here in Africa progress continues to be made in unearthing new literary gems, bringing out new works by the...
View ArticleKeorapetse Kgositsile (1938 - 2018)
A minuscule tribute by O BolajiSouth Africa's greatest Black poets? One's mind automatically goes to Mongane Wally Serote, and Keorapetse Kgositsile, who has just died.I have been lucky enough to meet...
View ArticleFURTHER GLIMPSES INTO AFRICAN LITERATURE
EDITED BY I. M SOQAGA AND O BOLAJIEssays on selected works of disparate African writers, like: Cyprian Ekwensi Ferdinand OyonoPeter AbrahamsFlaxman QoopaneLola ShoneyinKhanyi MbauMaria SharapovaCharles...
View Article