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Creative writing is a relatively new phenomenon in African universities, as the influence of the American higher education system gains ground on the continent. Whilst there are many creative writing course books that focus on American/European audiences, there are almost no books with an African literary emphasis in mind, placing African literature and writing into a wider literary context and tradition, and targeting African writers, students and teachers of creative writing. Intending to fill this gap, this book is meant for teachers and students of creative writing, poetry and African literature on the African continent and beyond, especially young African writers.
To the Budding Creative Writer: A Handbook is designed to help young writers come to grips with questions and problems relative to their creative efforts. The authors discuss a range of topics, providing guidelines on such issues as style, technique, point of view, characterization, poetic diction, figurative language, denotation and connotation, etc. They equally offer useful critical comments on some of the works of accomplished African writers whom they cite as models for beginning writers, fusing literary creativity with literary criticism. All along the co-authors stress the centrality, in imaginative writing, of both the 'what' and the 'how' or matter and manner, and how to combine both to good effect.
This book investigates how African authors and artists have explored themes of the future and technology within their works. Afrofuturism was coined in the 1990s as a means of exploring the intersection of African diaspora culture with technology, science and science fiction. However, this book argues that literature and other arts within Africa have always reflected on themes of futurism, across diverse forms of speculative writing (including science fiction), images, spirituality, myth, magical realism, the supernatural, performance and other forms of oral resources. This book reflects on themes of African futurism across a range of literary and artistic works, also investigating how problems such as racism, sexism, social injustice and postcolonialism are reflected in these narratives. Chapters cover authors, artists, movements and performers such Wole Soyinka, Ben Okri, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Elechi Amadi, Mazisi Kunene, Nnedi Okorafor, Lauren Beukes, Leslie Nneka Arimah and the New African Movement. The book also includes a range of original interviews with prominent authors and artists, including Tanure Ojaide, Lauren Beukes, Patricia Jabbeh Wesley, Benjamin Kwakye, Ntongela Masilela and Bruce Onobrakpeya. Interdisciplinary in its approach, this book will be an important resource for researchers across the fields of African literature, philosophy, culture and politics.
African literature is a vast subject of growing output and interest. Written especially for students, this book selectively surveys the topic in a clear and accessible way. Included are roughly 600 alphabetically arranged entries on writers, genres, and major works. Many entries cite works for further reading, and the volume closes with a selected, general bibliography. Africa is a land of contrasts and of diverse cultures and traditions. It is also a land of conflict and creativity. The literature of the continent draws upon a fascinating body of oral traditions and lore and also reflects the political turmoil of the modern world. With the increased interest in cultural diversity and the growing centrality of Africa in world politics, African literature is figuring more and more prominently in the curriculum. This book helps students learn about the African literary achievement. Written expressly for students, this book is far more accessible than other reference works on the subject. Included are nearly 600 alphabetically arranged entries on authors, such as Chinua Achebe, Athol Fugard, Buchi Emecheta, Nadine Gordimer, and Wole Soyinka; major works, such as Things Fall Apart and Petals of Blood; and individual genres, such as the novel, drama, and poetry. Many entries cite works for further reading, and the volume closes with a selected, general bibliography.
Literature remains one of the few disciplines that reflect the experiences, sensibility, worldview, and living realities of its people. Contemporary African literature captures the African experience in history and politics in a multiplicity of ways. Politics itself has come to intersect and impact on most, if not all, aspects of the African reality. This relationship of literature with African people’s lives and condition forms the setting of this study. Tanure Ojaide’s Indigeneity, Globalization, and African Literature: Personally Speaking belongs with a well-established tradition of personal reflections on literature by African creative writer-critics. Ojaide’s contribution brings to the table the perspective of what is now recognized as a “second generation” writer, a poet, and a concerned citizen of Nigeria’s Niger Delta area.
African Books Collective and the Dag Hammarskjold Foundation organised the African-Writers Publishers Seminar in Tanzania in 1998. Major African writers and publishers hammered out a 'New Deal' for relations between the two. This practical manual includes the 'New Deal' statement, and carries forward the work of the seminar. Intended for the aspiring or not yet established creative writer, the answers are given on how to get published, how publishing works, relations with publishers, and how to find resources. With an introduction by Niyi Osundare, the book is in two parts. First, respected African writers and publishers contribute their experiences and perspectives on writing and publishing in Africa - Dapo Adeniyi, Walter Bgoya, Henry Chakava, Cyprian Ekwensi, Taban lo Liyong, Kole Omotoso, Onsonye Tess Onwueme, Femi Osofisan, Niyi Osundare and the late Ken Saro-Wiwa, Yvonne Vera and Paul Tiyambe Zeleza. A massive amount of practical information and resource materials is given on prizes, writers' organisations, magazines, vanity and self-publishing, literary agents, censorship, book fairs, resources for writers on the Internet and more. James Currey, Mary Jay, Michael Norton and Hans Zell also contribute.
With African Americans writing and buying books in record numbers, the time is ripe for a comprehensive publishing guide tailored expressly to the needs of this vibrant, creative community. The African American Writers Handbook meets this challenge perfectly. Written by veteran journalist and published author Robert Fleming, this book gives writers the heart, the determination, and above all the crucial information to publish successfully in this highly competitive field. Knowing the inner workings of the publishing industry provides any writer, novice or veteran, with a much needed advantage in the quest to get into print. Inside you'll find - A complete, step-by-step guide to every aspect of the publishing process, from the germination of a winning idea to the nuts and bolts of book production - Tips on submitting proposals, query letters, and preparing manuscripts for submission - Advice on negotiating contracts that extend careers - How to use on-line resources for research and profit - Interviews with top editors, agents, publishing executives, and bookstore owners - Updated information on copyrights, subsidiary rights, sales and marketing - The trials and triumphs of self-publishing - The art of promoting your work and yourself to a wider audience - An insider's look at the economic realities of the book business - And much more! Here, too, are scores of inspiring interviews and capsule biographies of leading African American writers both past and present. How did Richard Wright become America's first bestselling black writer? How did Zora Neale Hurston break through the artistic boundaries of the Harlem Renaissance long after her death? What was Toni Cade Bambara doing before she sold her first book? Why should Ann Petry, William Gardner Smith, Nella Larson, and William Melvin Kelley be revered wherever African American literature is read? Blending practical information and fascinating anecdotes with a mini literary history of African American writing, this upbeat, savvy, essential guide is a publishing primer with soul.
Aimed toward graduate student instructors and other creative writing educators, Teaching Cultural Dexterity in Creative Writing offers a formula for important changes in creative writing instruction-especially in literary/creative nonfiction, probing how instruction might become more inclusive and accessible for minoritized/marginalized student-authors. The book chapters use antiracist, trauma-informed, and anticolonial frameworks toward exploring the 21st-century professional, theoretical, and institutional concerns surrounding creative writing practices in North American higher education. As a result, the book explores ways creative writing pedagogies and theories might be adapted for racially and linguistically marginalized (by English) student-authors, who often inhabit minoritized positions within North American colleges and universities. Applying as a frame the notion of cultural dexterity as it is taught to medical professionals to allow them to engage effectively with patients from all backgrounds, ethnics groups and with all sensitivities, Teaching Cultural Dexterity in Creative Writing examines why and how creative writing instruction needs to be urgently renegotiated. In this essential text for all creative writing instructors, McCray provides all the tools necessary to take positive action with discussions of potential readings, writing prompts and sample course materials.
This volume presents new research and critical debates in African book history, and brings together a range of disciplinary perspectives by leading scholars in the subject. It includes case studies from across Africa, ranging from third-century manuscript traditions to twenty-first century internet communications.