An excerpt of my short story "My Mother's Recipe" has been published in the ground breaking anthology, Speaking For The Generations: An Anthology of Contemporary African Short Stories. I know the next question is "recipe for what? " Well, you will have to read the story and find out. But first let me tell you more about this anthology. It is edited by Dike Okoro, professor of English and World Literature at Olive-Harvey College, Chicago. It is published by the renowned Africa World Press, Trenton, New Jersey.
This is a collection to love and own. The stories here are in the flash fiction category, so each story is about 800 words long. I have already read about fifteen and I enjoyed them tremendously.
Here with some more information on the anthology:
In forty-eight stories that showcase the rich narratives, cultures, and customs of the continent, the reader will become acquainted with both established and emerging African male and female writers. Themes include love, family, relationships, death, politics, exile, childhood, gender, struggle (personal and communal), rage and hope.
“This anthology boasts two major strengths. First, it brings North Africa into a conversation with sub-Saharan Africa as very few such anthologies of African literature have so far done. Second, there is an invigorating freshness about the new talents brought to our attention here as well as an urgency in their reflections on contemporary African and global issues. Dike Okoro should be commended for the imagination he has shown in putting together a collection of stories anyone--student, teacher, or general reader--would love to possess and share with others.”
--Isidore Okpewho, State University of New York Distinguished Professor of Africana Studies, English, & Comparative Literature at Binghamton University
“The stories in this collection clearly capture the changing face of contemporary African societies as they reveal the fears and dreams, the confusion and clarity of the cultures they reflect. While depicted situations in the narratives are often precarious at best, the constant, a hope for a better tomorrow or a better existence, pulses at the heart of these stories.”
--Walter P. Collins, III, Ph.D., Associate Professor of French & English, University of South Carolina at Lancaster
ABOUT THE EDITOR
Dike Okoro, poet, short story writer, editor, essayist and critic, has published widely. His creative work and non-fiction have appeared in major journals/magazines/books, including Yellow Medicine Review, Witness Magazine, Botsotso, Farafina, African Writing Online, JALA: Journal of African Literature Association, IRCAL: International Research in Contemporary African Literature, Dictionary of Literary Biography: African Writers Series and Emerging Voices of Post Colonial African Literature. Okoro is the recipient of a Sam Walton Fellowship (2004) and the US/South Africa Education/Research Grant (2003). His major publications include the poetry collection Dance of the Heart and two anthologies of poetry: Songs for Wonodi and Echoes from the Mountain: New and Selected Poems by Mazisi Kunene. He is an assistant professor of English and World Literature at Olive-Harvey College, Chicago.
In another piece of publication news, four of my poems just got published in Songs For Tomorrow: Cameroon Poetry In English edited by Oscar C. Labang and published by Miraclaire publishing House. As Emmanuel fru Doh explains,
This collection anthologizes the diverse experiences that have animated/shaped the creative imagination of Anglophone Cameroon poets of various generations in 2009. From veteran poets through “New Deal Generation poets” to emerging voices, the anthology, without claiming an encyclopedic scope, captures a complete spectrum of the Cameroonian poetic experience especially as revealed in a time span that is less than one year. Most of the poems, therefore, are fresh insights and philosophies that convey profound visions about the state of existence and project diverse Cameroonian/African experiences
It will be wonderful to get your esteemed feedback, once you buy and read these books!
Congratulations!
I have visited africaworldpressbooks.com and I am very happy to see that "Speaking for the Generations: An Anthology of Contemporary African Short Stories "the dream that has at last become true!
I am Mohamed Saïd Raïhani, a Moroccan short story writer and the translator of all the Moroccan texts represented in the present anthology to which I wish all the success.
Best regards
Mohamed Saïd Raïhani
http://www.raihani.ma
Posted by: Mohamed Said Raihani | June 12, 2010 at 11:18 PM