who do you think is the leading African writer. As for me i think em, Wole Soyinka is, Do you disagree? ok, let the posting begin

Depends on your tastes. Soyinka is a guru and a very complex man but there are some budding writers nowadays. The problem was that Nigerians weren't interested in writing but we now have a new breed. Have you heard of Ben Okri? He's very very good.

I personally think no one beats Chinua Achebe. The man should have won a nobel prize a long time ago. I also like Elechi Amadi, and up and coming Chimamanda Adichie.

Mariama Ba.

Well, for my side i don't know that much of African Writers, but i know one called "ERICK JAMES SHIGONGO."
His books just make u cry (eg: LAST DAYS OF MY LIFE, & THE PRESIDENT LOVES MY WIFE."
He's a Tanzanian and for real i'm sure everybody who knows him just likes him, men he rocks.

Chinau achebe writes 4 evry1 but if u're not well versed in the english language you cant read a core soyinka book, u cant even find some of his words in a standard dictionary. So achebe i duff my hat to you for coming down to our level

I don read Chinua Achebe, good writer. Wole Soyinka is rather verbose in his writing. If you read "So Long a Letter" by Mariama Ba or "Scarlet song", you will be impressed with the literary skills of the writer. In my opinion, she had no equal in Literature from Africa.

Check it out.

Really i'm down strictly for world/newyork times bestsellers

African best selling authors are too textbookish in their prose.

Hush there H.U.S.H.. The reason most writers sound like textbooks in Nigeria is because after the first breed people simply stopped writing. After Wole Soyinka, Achebe, Rotimi and so on, the only writers Nigeriia produced were rather mediocre.

There's a new movement now. Nigerians want to write now -- especially poetry. Queenzy is a poet -- a very good one I daresay and she's only 17. Have you ever read a book by Ben Okri or Victor Thorpe? These are young men with lots of talent. As long as you write off Nigerian writers as mediocre without trying them, then. . .

What about New York Times Bestsellers? Bestsellers usually sell because the writer concocts some story and mixes some sex in it -- the kinkier the better. If you read them however, you'll discover they can't compare to the real books. These are books that sell for only a couple of years and then vanish.

Have you read The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky, War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, Ake [/b]by [b]Wole Soyinka, any of Ngugi Wa Thiong'o's books [I've read nearly all]? These are time-honoured classics people still pick up 20 - 100 years after they're written.

If you did not study Literature, I advise you to think twice before jumping to conclusions.

How much of African Literature do you understand?
How many African writers have you read?

Don't just read only some notable Nigerian writers and two or three other writers from East Africa and start nominating who should be regarded as the best writer in Africa.

Who says Nigerian writers after Soyinka and Achebe are not better?
Literary scholars are rating the quality of Helon Habila's prose than Achebe's.

Why and how did Achebe and Soyinka become popular?
The circumstances of their pre-colonial and post-colonial era are different from our own period.

Personally, Achebe has not impressed me since his last good novel, "Arrow of God".
Achebe has only two classic novels. The others are just okay.
Ben Okri has written better and greater novels.

JM Coetzee the South African novelist who won the Booker Prize twice and the Nobel Prize in 2003 is highly rated above other writers in Africa, except Wole Soyinka.

Wole Soyinka is awesome in poetry, drama and prose and even in his essays.
Other great writers in the world fear to compare themselves to him.

If you don't understand Yoruba culture and literature, you cannot understand Wole Soyinka.

Soyinka combined the best of Classical Literature, European Literature and African Literature.

If you understand the IFA Corpus, you will become a great writer.
No other literature in Africa can surpass the Yoruba literature.
Soyinka has mastered Yoruba literatue to dazzle the rest of the world.

Do you know that Chinua Achebe is still sulking since 1986, because Wole Soyinka won the Nobel Prize when he thought he should have won it?

For what?
Achebe's literature cannot stand the literary corpus of Wole Soyinka.

Achebe is now doing all things possible to make the Nobel Prize Committee give him the Nobel Prize. That is why he has been in America all these years.

Achebe is just living on his past glory on "Things Fall Apart".

He wrote the novel as a young man of 28 in 1958.
And since then, that is all the world knows about him?
I am very disappointed.

Ben Okri published his first novel "Flowers and Shadows" in 1980 at 19 and has gone ahead to write better, bigger and greater novels like "The Landscapes Within" (1981) and his classic novel "The Famished Road" was awarded the Booker Prize for Fiction in 1991.

'In the past few years, Okri has received numerous international literary awards, including the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Africa, the Chianti Rufino-Antico Fattore International Literary Prize, the Paris Review Aga Khan Prize for Fiction, the Premio Grinzane Cavour, and the prestigious Booker Prize.
http://www.thecore.nus.edu.sg/post/nigeria/okri/bennett1c.html

Ben Okri is the next Nigerian writer that will win the Nobel Prize.

Thank you Orikinla. I didn't study literature but my mom did -- French and English -- so I grew up readingbooks from all over the world.

Glad you see eye-to-eye with me on Ben Okri -- and with African writers at large. There's a difference between studying the market and writing for it -- and writing from the soul. Writing with the aim of making a best-seller is simply what everyone's doing nowadays -- that's not the principle of literature.

Zahymaka,
I want to make money so that I can afford to take care of my family and other dependants and give them the best things in life. Therefore, I want my books to become bestsellers now that I can enjoy the good things money can buy.
Many great writers and artists died poor.
God has already made my case to be diffrent.

It is good to make history. But we need the money to solve a lot of financial problems.

I will not discuss my books here, so that people will not accuse me of promoting myself.

I will soon pay to advertise them on Nairaland.

Two of my books are already available in English and Spanish.
I have French, Japanese and Malaysian translators. And I have a good publisher.
But I want a better publisher.

"Only the best is good enough for us"
~ Bishop Ajayi Crowther

I know -- lots of writers wrote because they needed the money. Try not to write anything that conflicts with your beliefs -- it'll show in your work.

May God help me.

But find out about Philip Begho, one of the most gifted writers of Biblical Drama and he is a Nigerian in Nigeria. He has won many of the prizes for drama in Nigeria.

If every member of Nairaland should buy his book, he would be better.
He gave up his legal prractice to write biblical plays. He is one of the most dedicated writers of this generation. But, winning prizes in Nigeria did not make his books bestsellers. Why? Most Nigerians don't read classic works of literature.

Bisi Ojediran is the best adventure thriller novelist in Nigeria and how many Nigerians have read his novels? I have been doing my best to highlight his works online. And I created three blogs for his novels. Bisi is with Shell, otherwise he would be facing the trials most Nigerians are facing.

Ben Okri was born in England and being a British citizen has helped him. The British Council supported him until he won the Booker Prize.

I need enough money to establish a Writers Project Fund (WPF) to give grants to writers to write good books.

The WPF will give a writer as much as $20,000 to stay in a flat with all the required conveniences to write a serious book. Then, the book will be published and promoted with fanfare.

I already have a scholarship fund to encourage reading and writing among Nigerian secondary school pupils. I launched it in 2003 at the University of Lagos.

Now you know why I want my books to be bestsellers.

Good. You sure are one swell guy. I have to admit that I'm an amateur writer -- I'm working on a content management system for writers but I'm using it myself. It's at http://books.zatechcorp.com.

I hope you woudn't mind checking our some of my pieces? Good luck to you and I hope you get those best-sellers.

i also know one good writter
are you surprise?
well she is a young Nigerian . one of her works is THE PARK OF AKAMKPA.
The can`t drop down type, you know what i mean?
i think this country is so blessed with good and tallented writers , some of them really do not nknow how to publish their works.

Please, where and when was THE PARK OF AKAMKPA published? And can you post the press reviews of the book?

Orikinla:

Please, where and when was THE PARK OF AKAMKPA published? And can you post the press reviews of the book?

I'd like to know too -- it sounds like a good read.

Orikinla, I'm still having problems with the ANA people -- getting registered. Could you give me some advice?

oooops, don't know much of african writers, just erick james shigongo.

Orikinla:


Who says Nigerian writers after Soyinka and Achebe are not better?
Literary scholars are rating the quality of Helon Habila's prose than Achebe's.

Why and how did Achebe and Soyinka become popular?
The circumstances of their pre-colonial and post-colonial era are different from our own period.

Personally, Achebe has not impressed me since his last good novel, "Arrow of God".
Achebe has only two classic novels. The others are just okay.
Ben Okri has written better and greater novels.

Do you know that Chinua Achebe is still sulking since 1986, because Wole Soyinka won the Nobel Prize when he thought he should have won it?

For what?
Achebe's literature cannot stand the literary corpus of Wole Soyinka.

[b]Achebe is now doing all things possible to make the Nobel Prize Committee give him the Nobel Prize. That is why he has been in America all these years.

Achebe is just living on his past glory on "Things Fall Apart".

He wrote the novel as a young man of 28 in 1958.
And since then, that is all the world knows about him?
I am very disappointed.[/b]

Orikinla, I don't know why you regard Achebe with disdain. I have seen several posts of your that say things similar to this one. You are entitled to your opinion, but that does not mean you should try sullying the old man's reputation with allegations of lobbying et al (justified of otherwise). For God's sake give the man his dues. Even if it was true that he has written only one or two good novels, that is more than billions of people on this earth have done.

After all is said and done, the man has achieved something and many people like me who were born long after he wrote a lot of his books know him and are familiar with his works. His works shall live long after he is dead and gone. I shall not purport to equate him with Soyinka, but there are some records that Achebe has broken and which Soyinka hasn't.

PLEASE LET US GIVE HONOUR TO WHOM HONOUR IS DUE.

achebe is nobel material but he's never going to get it cos he trashed james conrad. wayback in the hotheaded seventies. we all know the nobel is full of politics, wonder why people are so crazy about the prize

so orikinla better be careful since you are an aspiring writer . . .so that when its your turn

ziddy:

achebe is nobel material but he's never going to get it because he trashed james conrad. wayback in the hotheaded seventies. we all know the nobel is full of politics, wonder why people are so crazy about the prize
so orikinla better be careful since you are an aspiring writer . . .so that when its your turn

In addition to the prestige that comes with the award of a Nobel prize, it is a prize that is worth a little more than 1million Euros and you are regarded as the best of the best for having received one.

Whether Achebe wins the Nobel prize in Literature or not, his standing as Africa's leading/most popular writer was cemented with the publication of his novel, "Things Fall Apart".  The novel is still making waves nearly 50 years after its publication. True, he seemed upset at Soyinka's winning the Nobel Prize, since I read in Newswatch about a remark alluded to him, that Soyinka's Nobel award should not mean that he was the Ashiwaju of Nigerian literature or so. Soyinka hit back that he wanted to be the Ogbuefi of Nigerian literature as well. How childish!!!

For women, there are few African female writers, (ok, I gotta admit I have not read a lot of them) who can compete on the same level as the late Mariama Ba of Senegal.

when u are talking about the best in african literature today, u av to look at several aspects of literature like poetry ,prose , novel e.t.c.it is the writer that has been able to touch all these aspect and excel should be named the best writer, you cannot tell me that you can only dazzle pple with poetry while u are nothing in prose makes you a good writer, this is where wole soyinka and achebe come in , soyinka's works are not only in writing novel, this guy directed drama , write excellent poems , produced brilliant proses, achebe and other african writers are just known for novels. soyinka is known for literature.the difference is clear.

Achebe is my favourite, followed by Soyinka. I guess the reason why Soyinka won the nobel prize is because he was more political while Achebe is more cultural and try his best to show that Africa is civilised before the white people came.
For instance, the rules follow by the warring villages in Things fall apart. The Europeans like to believe that Africans are barbaric and have no rules or law before they invade the continent.
For me win the nobel prize or not Achebe is best African author I've ever seen, And I expect him to be honoured with the nobel prize very soon.

When it comes to drama, soyinka has it, that's why the nobel committee eluded to his having invented the "drama of existence".

But when it comes to prose achebe rules. He got the knack to make his work both simple and profound. New york times listed his work as one of the top 100 books of the millenium together with ernest hermingway.

Achebe has just won the Booker Prize for Fiction. Well, I congratulate my favourite author on his winning. His potrayal of Africa has set a precedent for other prominent African writers.

I don't know who Africa's leading writer is, but I know that Nigeria and Africa at large has wonderful writers.
I think i've seen the best of Literature in Africa.

whats the big deal about th nobel. its just a lot of money, but it doesnt mean the writer is the best out there. its jus tone more opinion

What's even the big deal with winning the Nobel prize, to reiterate the poster's comment? Why in the would would we, Africans look to the white man to validate our own literature? I find it very ironic that Achebe, whose novel, "Things Fall Apart" is somewhat a backlash against colonialism, is at the same time, wishing that he wins the nobel prize. Same goes with the author, including Wole Soyinka. If you are against Colonialism, then, by all means, bid farewell to their prizes, instituted by them.

How about an African literary prize that celebrates our own writer? Few that I can think of, aside from the Noma prize. Now, I can honestly attest that a black writer, is regarded above their own peers, by their own clique, if they win, just one foreign award than, if they snagged multitude of African literary prizes. Similar to talking the talk, and not enforcing it.

With or without the Nobel Prize, Africa has great men in literature.

Ngugi Wa Thiongo