By Raphael Mokoena
The
publishing industry continues to trundle on, despite travails. Even here in
Africa progress continues to be made in unearthing new literary gems, bringing
out new works by the established wordsmiths etc. The year 2017, now reaching its end, has not been
different.
But to be honest, for me the year 2017 in respect of African
literature was outstanding mainly because of the demise of three exceedingly
revered, highly talented writers, all of them belonging to the pantheon of our all
time literary greats: Peter Abrahams, (above) Miriam Tlali and Buchi Emecheta.
Peter
Abrahams, and Miriam Tlali, both from South Africa were pioneers and trail
blazers. Abrahams a 'coloured' writer left SA as a very young man and
went on to the dazzle the world with a string of superb novels and general
works, making the horrors of racial discrimination known globally via his
writings. Works of his like Mine Boy, and Tell Freedom live on in World
consciousness.
Miriam Tlali (above) was the first black woman from South Africa to publish an excellent novel, Muriel at Metropolitan, or Between two Worlds - the title she preferred. She went on to write and publish several other creative works, including short stories. Her name is etched in gold in African literature.
As for
the loss of Buchi Emecheta (below) - what a wonderful writer! Never mind that she was
female. A Nigerian by birth, she did wonderful things for African
writing. She published at least twice the number of novels that the illustrious
Achebe published. Her works are all powerful in their own way, pushing
feminine writing and ideas to the fore. Emecheta was world class, focused,
brilliantly creative and was a pioneer too.
So, three great African writers left us in 2017, all of them pioneers and world class to boot. We should continue to read their literary works and celebrate them! But this 2017...
