Women Writing Africa: The Southern Region

The first in a four-volume series, this collection features works by distinguished, as well as lesser-known, African women writers. The editors' selection of excerpts ranges from the 19th century to the 21st, documenting the varied backgrounds of African women's oral and written traditions. The comprehensive anthology comprises communal songs, folktales, letters, journals, poems, fiction, political speeches and more. Standouts include""Leaving the Farm"" by novelist, short story writer and political essayist Olive Schriener, the anonymous""Song of the Afflicted,"" and Elizabeth Dube's reflection on how her family suffered five murders in the space of a few weeks during conflicts in Zimbabwe during the 1980s. An introductory note accompanies every text to explain its cultural and historical context. This is an important work, of interest to women's studies scholars and those fascinated by the countries these writers hail from: Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland and Zimbabwe.