Celebrating African Writers Too
February 17, 2011 in African Literature, Black Literature, travel to Africa
Of course, this is Black History Month at LT, and we’ve been honoring African American writers. But we’d like to change it up a bit and honor a literary tradition and writer that come from the exquisite continent of Africa. Since we live in a global world, we’ve all seen documentaries on Africa–the heartache mixed with hope. The vivid costumes, face paint and body piercings of tribal life. The trendy fashion industry, the extravagant safaris, the golden pyramids …
We’d like you to explore two countries with us in particular: Ghana and South Africa. Writer Hannah May travels to Ghana to attend the wedding of a close friend. Once there, she discovers she has fallen in love with the people and the culture, and especially the folklore and oral literary tradition, of Ghana. May says:
When I left Africa, I was speechless. Several tears spoke for me. I had only spent just shy of a month on the continent, but it was an extraordinarily defining experience that both affirmed and reformed me.
Join May on her journey in The Oral Literary Tradition of Ghana: Folklore & Proverbs.
As for South Africa, J.M. Coetzee, a white Afrikaner, writes about the turmoil and racial divide in his native Cape Town. It is a country marred by the scars of prejudice and hatred. Writer Nicholas J. Klenske discusses how Coetzee dissects the violent rift between the black South African and the white Afrikaner in his literature. Klenske says:
Perhaps like no other post-apartheid novel, Disgrace introduces the reader to a new Cape Town and South Africa – one that finds itself engulfed in a different type of violence and conflict. Instead of the perfection many hoped to see after the fall of apartheid, in Disgrace all races, individuals and even Cape Town itself find themselves feeling disgraced.
A brave South African, Coetzee searches the darkness to find the light. He examines every part of apartheid–before, during and after. And he recognizes that his country is still healing. To read more, take a look at J.M. Coetzee’s Warring Cape Town.
There’s a part of black history that no one likes to talk about; however, without this history we would not have insightful literary black voices, narratives and stories passed down from generation to generation. We’re talking about that dark time in American history known as slavery.
He’s the guy wearing the fedora. He’s the guy who looks black, but actually comes from an extensive history of Jewish Eastern Europeans. He’s also the guy who explores American black culture in his mystery series with star detective Easy Rawlins.
Who embodies the Harlem Renaissance more than any other writer? Langston Hughes, of course. This black poet created not only inspirational poetry, but poetry that is cool. Langston’s poem “Harlem” (more popularly known as “A Dream Deferred”) has been made into a Broadway stage play and a feature film. Both adaptions have starred major black entertainers such as Phylicia Rashad, Sean “P. Diddy” Combs, Sanaa Lathan and Audra McDonald, thus carrying on the Harlem Renaissance tradition.
Black History Month continues with Faith Ringgold, renown artist and author of the children’s classic Tar Beach. Ringgold grew up in the Depression era in Harlem in the 1930s. As a young girl, she saw the injustices of money and race firsthand during the latter years of the Harlem Renaissance.
Black History Month is finally here. And we’re celebrating it by highlighting all of our articles about African American writers. We’ll also be throwing in a couple Caribbean writers and an article on Ghana, so stay tuned!
We’re proud to celebrate Black History Month in February 2011. As an American-based magazine, we celebrate along with the rest of the country. Since our publication focuses on the literary, we decided a long time ago to extend the usual canon of dead white men to include all those who made literary contributions to our country. Thus, in preparation for Black History Month in two weeks, we’d like to take a minute to reflect on our articles that highlight the black literary canon and black history.
