'It is reassuring that academics and scholars like the author
of this work can intermittently focus on such literary phenomena which might
otherwise not have been recorded; to wit, Onitsha Market Literature. The
high-brow cynics might sneer, but what is literature if not the interesting
dissemination of creative, imaginative pertinent writing enjoyed by a (large)
number of people? When Onitsha Market literature was at its peak decades ago, a
large number of books with local colour was published regularly; many teeming
readers availed themselves of the opportunity to buy these works and enjoy
them; literacy was boosted in the process; and many writers emerged... Alas,
this is no longer the case in most African communities. Reading books for
leisure has become a rarity, for both young and old - very privileged – and
when it exists at all, an expensive process. Hence the importance of Onitsha
Market Literature at its apogee. The process, and phenomenon is well recorded
in this work. The Introduction by the author is most enlightening, and in no
way patronizing; the author acknowledges the importance of this Literature,
pointing out the features, major works, and the fact that there is plenty of
literary merit - and freshness - in the works published. And perhaps most
important, the author reproduces a varied selection of such works in the second
part of this book. By the way, Cyprian Ekwensi, one of the all-time greats of
African literature, early in his career was proudly published by "Onitsha
Market" publishers...' - Malome
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