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Opening Spaces: Contemporary African Women's Writing
Yvonne Vera

ISBN-10: 0435910108
ISBN-13: 9780435910105

Publisher: Longman
Copyright: 1999
Format: Paper
Published: 08/01/2008

Suggested retail price: $13.95
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African women are seldom given the space to express their concerns, their ideas and their reflections about the societies in which they live. In situations where a good woman is expected to remain silent, literature can provide an important medium for the expression of deeply-felt and sometimes shocking views.

 

Commonwealth Writers Prize-winning novelist Yvonne Vera has selected prose and poetry from all over Africa for this anthology. This collection includes some of the newest and most talented writers in Africa today. They act as witnesses to the dramas of private and public life. Their stories challenge contemporary attitudes and behaviour, leaving no room for complacency. Contributors include: Ama Ata Aidoo, Veronique Tadjo, Farida Karodia, Lindsey Collen, Sindiwe Magona. Includes The Museum, Winner of the Caine Prize for African Writing 2000

Preface

The Girl Who Can - Ama Ata Aidoo (Ghana)

Deciduous Gazettes - Melissa Tandiwe Myambo (Zimbabwe)

The Enigma - Lindsey Collen (Mauritius)

The Red Velvet Dress - Farida Karodia (South Africa)

Uncle Bunty - Norma Kitson (South Africa)

The Betrayal - Veronique Tadjo (Cote D'Ivoire)

The Museum - Leila Aboulela (Sudan)

The Power of a Plate of Rice - Ifeoma Okoye (Nigeria)

Stress - Lilia Momple (Mozambique)

A State of Outrage - Sindiwe Magona (South Africa)

Crocodile Tails - Chiedze Musengezi (Zimbabwe)

Night Thoughts - Monde Sifuniso (Zambia)

The Barrel of a Pen - Gugu Ndlovu (Zimbabwe)

A Perfect Wife - Anna Doa (Mali)

The Home-Coming - Milly Jafta (Namibia)

Notes on Contributors Acknowledgements

EDITOR

Yvonne Vera was born and raised in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, gained her Ph.D. from York University in Canada, and  was the Director of the National Gallery of Zimbabwe in Bulawayo. Yvonne Vera died at age 40 in 2005   

 

Yvonne Vera’s  Without a Name and Under the Tongue both won first prize in the Zimbabwe Publishers Literary Awards of 1995 and 1997 respectively. Under the Tongue won the 1997 Commonwealth Writers Prize (Africa Region). Yvonne Vera won the Swedish literary award The Voice of Africa 1999.

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