the African short story

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AFRICAN LITERATURE TODAY (ALT) 31: WRITING AFRICA IN THE SHORT STORY.

The Editor, African Literature Today, invites articles for ALT 31: WRITING AFRICA IN THE SHORT STORY, described below:

Arguably, the African novel came alive through Chinua Achebe’s classic, Things Fall Apart (1958).The modern African literary tradition has since branched into exciting and sometimes startling new directions with novels like Syl Cheney-Coker’s The Last Harmattan of Alusine Dunbar, Ben Okri’s The Famished Road, Ngugi Wa Thiong’o’s Devil on the Cross and Wizard of the Crow, and works of Kojo Laing, Yvonne Vera, and so on.

This edition of ALT takes a close look at the AFRICAN SHORT STORY to re-define its own peculiar pedigree, chart its trajectory, critique its present state and examine its creative possibilities, and see how the two (the short story and the novel) match complementarily or exist in contradistinction in terms of over-all success and the informing antecedents within the driving purview of culture and politics, history and/public memory, legends, myths and folklore. What in a capsule is the state of the African short story in terms of foundations, aesthetics, energy, literary and linguistic strengths or weaknesses as a form? There are quite a few names, old and new, to choose from. They include (but are not limited to) Chinua Achebe, Cyprian Ekwensi, Nawal El Saadawi, Flora Nwapa, Bessie Head, Taban Lo Liyong, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Ifeoma Okoye, Festus Iyayi, Alexander Kanengoni, Robert Zeleeza, Njabulo Ndebele, Ben Okri, Ama Ata Aidoo, Uwem Akpan, Anthonia Kalu, Promise Onwudiwe (Okekwe), Karen King-Aribisala, Chinelo Achebe, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie....

Articles should not exceed 5000 words typed double-spaced and should conform to the journal’s guidelines for submission of articles. Submissions should reach the Editor on or before January 31, 2013. Submissions should be by e-mail attachment on MS Word to: eernest@umflint.edu / africanliteraturetoday@umflint.edu