About the Book

AFRICAN LITERATURE TODAY was established at a time of uncertainty and reconstruction but for 50 years it has played a leading role in nurturing imaginative creativity and its criticism on the African continent and beyond. Contemporary African creative writers have confidently taken strides which resonate all over the world. The daring diversities, stylistic innovations and enchanting audacities which characterize their works across many different genres resonate with readers beyond African geographic and linguistic boundaries. Writers in Africa and the diaspora seem to be speaking with collective and individual voices that compel world attention and admiration. And they arebeing read in numerous world languages. This volume's contributors recognize the foundations laid by the pioneer African writers as they point vigorously to contemporary writers who have moved African imaginative creativityforward with utmost integrity, and to the critics who continue to respond with unyielding tenacity. The founding Editor of ALT, Professor Eldred Durosimi Jones, recalls in an interview in this volume, the role ALT played in the evolution and stimulation of a wave of African literary studies and criticism in mid-20th century: "The 1960s saw a good deal of activity among scholars teaching African Literature throughout Africa and the world, and this ledto a series of conferences in African Literature in Dakar, Nairobi, and Freetown.around the idea of communication between the various English Departments which took an interest in African Literature. We decided on a bulletin, which was just a kind of newsletter between departments saying what was going on....it was that bulletin that showed the potential of this kind of communication... after that we started African Literature Today as a journal inviting articles on the works of African writers." Contributors to the series demonstrate the impact of the growth in studies and criticism of African Literature in the 50 years since its founding. Series Editor: Ernest N. Emenyonu is Professor of Africana Studies at the University of Michigan-Flint, USA. Reviews Editor: Obi Nwakanma

Table of Contents:
Obituary: Keith Sambrook 1925-2019 - James Currey Editorial Article: "Salute to Pioneers on Whose Shoulders We Stand" - Ernest N. Emenyonu Women Investigators Uncovering Transgression in Unity Dow's Fiction - Pauline Dodgson-Katiyo Evolutionary Portrayal of Credible Characters in Chinua Achebe's Fiction - Kalapi Sen The Concept, Challenges & Consequences of UKHULE, in Sindiwe Magona's Beauty's Gift - Iniobong I. Uko Chimalum Nwankwo & the Poetry of the Aerial Zone - Maik Nwosu From Grace Ogot to Yvonne Owuor: Fifty Years of Depicting Kenyan Lands & Landscapes - Ng'ang'a Wahu-Muchiri The Writer & the Environment in Times of Crises: The Creative Talent in the Face of Boko Haram - Razinat Talatu Mohammed Women & ALT: Balancing the Gender Equation in the Criticism of African Literature - Akachi Ezeigbo Anthroliterary Discovery of a Novel Form in Nigeria: Itan Igbesi-Aye Emi Segilola Emi Eleyinju Ege & the Re-Reading of Print Culture, Events & Images in the First Nigerian Novel - John Uwa Gynocritical Impulses in the Novels & Short Stories of Ifeoma Okoye - Macpherson Nkem. Azuike Adaptation & the Theme of Passage of Time in Selected Plays of Wole Soyinka & Ola Rotimi - Norbert Oyibo Eze Contextualizing Chinua Achebe's Revolutionary Impulses - Psalms E. Chinaka Mohamed-Alioum Fantouré's Le récit du cirque...de la Vallée des Morts: The Limitations of Stylistic Innovations - Unionmwan Edebiri Fifty Years On: A Conversation with PROF. ELDRED JONES, Founding Editor, African Literature Today - Pede Hollist LITERARY SUPPLEMENT "Placate the Lords of Darkness" (Poem) - Anya Ude Egwu "The Invitation" (& 5 other Poems) - Hodabalou Anate "Moribund" (Poem) - Chinasa Abonyi "Kaput to be a Cat"/"Kaput to be a Rat" (2 Poems) - Alexander Opicho "Cactus" (Poem) - Onyeukwu Ifunanya "Guilt" (Short story) - Chioma Toni-Duruaku REVIEWS Edited by Obi Nwakanma