Togo - West Africa - page 874

Two young Nigerian writers - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Helon Habila - have
successfully made the leap from promising talents to skilled novelists with a growing in-
ternational following. Adichie in particular followed up her impressive first novel Purple
Hibiscus (2004) with the exceptional Half of a Yellow Sun (2006), which is set in Nigeria
during the Biafra war. Helon Habila, too, managed to build on the success of his first nov-
el, Waiting for an Angel (2004), with an acclaimed follow-up, Measuring Time (2007), the
stirring story of twins in a Nigerian village. His most recent offering is Oil on Water
(2010).
Other young Nigerian novelists to watch out for include Helen Oyeyemi ( The Icarus
Girl and White is for Witching ) and Uzodinma Iweala ( Beasts of No Nation ).
The annual Caine Prize for African Writing ( www.caineprize.com ), which is awarded for the best pub-
lished short story by an African writer, is one of Africa's most prestigious literary awards. Recent West
African winners include Helon Habila (2001), SA Afolabi (2005), EC Osundu (2009) and Rotimi Baba-
tunde (2012).
Francophone West Africa
Until recently, Francophone West African writers were little known beyond France, but a
flurry of translations into English has brought them the international readership they
richly deserve.
Until his death in 1991, Amadou Hampaté Bâ, Mali's most prolific novelist, was one of
the most significant figures in West African literature, as well as a leading linguist, ethno-
grapher and religious scholar. It was Bâ who, in 1960, first said 'In Africa, when an old
man dies, it's a library burning'. Three of his books - The Fortunes of Wangrin (which
won the 1976 'Grand Prix litéraire de l'Afrique noire'), Kaidara and Radiance of the
Great Star - are available in English.
The late Ousmane Sembène, from Senegal, better known as an acclaimed movie direct-
or, has also published short-story collections and God's Bits of Wood, an accomplished
novel set in colonial Mali and Senegal. Two female Senegalese writers worth tracking
down are Mariama Bâ, whose novel So Long a Letter won the Noma Award for publish-
ing in Africa, and Fatou Diome, whose 2003 novel The Belly of the Atlantic was a best-
seller in France. Nafissatou Dia Diouf is also attracting attention, although her Retour
d'Un Long Exil et Autres Nouvelles (2001) and Sables Mouvants (2000) are still available
only in French. The late Leopold Senghor, former Senegalese president and a literary fig-
ure of international note, is the author of several collections of poetry and writings.
Côte d'Ivoire's finest novelist, Ahmadou Kourouma, is widely available in English. His
Waiting for the Wild Beasts to Vote is a masterpiece that evocatively captures both the