These writers took part in the Second Stockholm Conference for African Writers, organized by the Scandinavian Institute of African Studies in April 1986. They came together to discuss current issues in African literature. These included the role of the writer in society, and the writer’s commitment to either society or to his or her craft, an issue which had also been discussed at the first Stockholm conference in 1967. They also included the new development of a woman’s voice in literature, and a new voice in South African literature, superseding the protest tradition.
This book presents the collected papers and excerpts from the ensuing discussions of the conference.
Author(s): Kirsten Holst Petersen; Per Wästberg
Series: Seminar Proceedings 20
Publisher: Scandinavian Institute of African Studies
Year: 1988
Language: English
City: Uppsala
Introduction | 7
Kirsten Holst Petersen
The Writer in Modern Africa | 17
Per Wästberg
Ethics, Ideology and the Critic | 26
Wole Soyinka
From the discussion | 51
The Languages of Our Dreams or the Dreams of Our Languages | 55
Kole Omotoso
The Price of Independence: The Writers’ Agony | 60
Eldred D. Jones
From the discussion | 65
The Growth of a Literary Tradition | 67
Chris Wanjala
From the discussion | 78
Reverend Doctor John S. Mbiti is a Thief of Gods | 81
Taban lo Liyong
Writing Against Neo-colonialism | 92
Ngugi wa Thiong’o
Censoring the African Poem: Personal Reflections | 104
Jack Mapanje
The Socio-Psychological Development of Africa | 112
David G. Maillu
The Role of the African Writer in National Liberation and Social Reconstruction | 128
Emmanuel Ngara
African Motherhood — Myth and Reality | 141
Lauretta Ngcobo
From the discussion | 151
To Be an African Woman Writer — an Overview and a Detail | 155
Ama Ata Aidoo
Feminism with a small ‘f’! | 173
Buchi Emecheta
From the discussion 181
To What Extent is the South African Writer’s Problem Still Bleak and Immense? | 186
Sipho Sepamla
Power to the People: A Glory to Creativity | 193
Wally Serote
The Dominant Tone of Black South African Writing | 198
Miriam Tlali
From the discussion | 203
Beyond ‘Protest’: New Directions in South African Literature | 205
Njabulo Ndebele
From the discussion | 217
About the Contributors| 219
