African Studies Research Guide  Tags: africa  

Things Fall Apart by by Chinua Achebe, 1962, launched the Heinemann African Writer's Series

Africa Writes Back celebrates the 50th anniversary of the African Writer's Series

Fully searchable electronic version of African Writer's Series

Guides

• A good starting place for an overview of works dealing with African literature/theater is Reference Guide to Africa: A Bibliography of Sources by Alfred Kagan (Ref. Z3501.K15). Another to look at is African Literature on the Internet by Joseph Caruso.

• See Also:

  Ref. PL8010 .E63 2003 Encyclopedia of African Literature edited by Simon Gikandi. London: Routledge, 2003.

For a bibliography of works on African literature published in English see the series below produced by Bernth Lindfors. Lindfors focuses on scholarly commentary found in books, periodicals and elsewhere.

Ref. Z3508 .L5L56 Black African Literature in English: A Guide to Information Sources. Detroit: Gale, 1979.

Ref. Z3508 .L5L56 Suppl. Black African Literature in English, 1977-1981 Supplement. New York: Africana, 1986.

Ref. Z3508 .L5L562 1989 Black African Literature in English, 1982-1986 New York: Hans Zell, 1989.

Ref. Z3508 .L5L5623 1995 Black African Literature in English, 1987-1991 New Jersey: Hans Zell, 1995.

Ref. Z3508 .L5L5624 2000 Black African Literature in English, 1992-1996 Oxford: Hans Zell, 2000.

Also of interest

in process A-Z of African Writers: A Guide to Modern African Writing in English. Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal: Shuter, 2009.

A still useful guide to African oral naratives is

Ref. Z3508 .L5S3 Bibliography of African Oral Narratives by Harold Scheub Madison, WI: African Studies Program, Univ. of Wisconsin, 1971.

Electronic Resources:

African Writers Series contains the full text of the Heinemann African Writers Series founded in 1962 to publish works by black African writers for an African readership. This series provides seminal works from the canon of African literature of the twentieth century, covering such authors as Steve Biko, Ama Ata Aidoo, and Buchi Emecheta. Texts are fully searchable and richly indexed. Author biographies are included.

Black Drama 1850-date
Provides the full text of 1200 plays by over 200 authors, including many African playwrights, many for the first time. Also has production details and biographical information on the playwrights