African Authors Quiz: Adichie & Forna

Study Notes

Grew up in Nigeria.
Born September 15, 1977.
Her work has been translated into over thirty languages.
Published in various publications, including The New Yorker, Granta, The O. Henry Prize Stories, and The Financial Times.
Purple Hibiscus is her debut novel, published in 2003.
Won the Commonwealth Writers Prize and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award.
Half of a Yellow Sun was published in 2006.
Tells the story of the Biafran War.
The story is told from the perspective of Olanna, Ugwu, and Richard.
Won the Orange Prize and was a National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist and a New York Times Notable Book.

Scottish, born in Glasgow but raised in Sierra Leone.
Author of a memoir, The Devil That Danced on the Water.
A Daughter's Quest.
Four novels (Ancestor Stones, etc).
The Devil That Danced on the Water, 2002 book.
Covers childhood and investigation into her father's execution.
An account of her family's experiences living in war-torn Sierra Leone.
The Memory of Love, 2010 novel.
About personal stories of love and loss within the context of Sierra Leone civil war.
Nominated for the Orange Prize for Fiction.

South African writer and political activist.
Received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1991.
Her works explore powerfully social, moral, and racial issues in South Africa under apartheid rule.
Burger's Daughter, published in 1979.
Follows the struggles of a group of anti-apartheid activists.
Read in secret by Nelson Mandela on Robben Island.

Novelist, journalist, poet, and academic, a French citizen.
Born in 1966 in Congo-Brazzaville.
Professor of Literature at UCLA.
Known for novels and non-fiction writing depicting the experience of contemporary Africa and the African diaspora in France.
Blue-White-Red, first novel, published in 1998.
Received the Sub-Saharan Africa Literary Prize in 1999.

What are the most common topics in African literature?
Which author do you think has had the most significant impact on African literature, and why?

Create an acrostic poem using the letters from the word "AFRICA" to demonstrate your perspective on African literature.

Research and present on additional authors from Asia, North America, Latin America, Europe, and Africa, not covered in the class discussion. At least one from each region.