Longman Literature in English SeriesGeneral Editors: David Carroll, University of Lancaster; Michael Wheeler, University of Southampton; Chris Walsh, Chester College of Higher EducationThe Longman Literature in English Series provides students of literature with a critical introduction to the major genres in their historical context. As well as studies on all periods of English and American literature, the series includes books on criticism and literary theory, the intellectual and cultural context, and other literatures in English. Each of the volumes contains an extensive reference section. When complete, the series will offer a practical and comprehensive guide to literature written from Anglo-Saxon times to the present.African Literatures in English: East and West provides students of literature with an introduction to the history of English writing from East and West Africa - from the texts of the slave diaspora to those of the post-war upsurge in African English language and literature from these regions.The author surveys the main forces of patronage through which this writing developed during its different historical phases, and their relations with existing forms and themes. The book also offers close readings of many of the magnificent English language African texts, from Equiano in the late eighteenth century to Emecheta and Ngugi in the present day. It introduces students to a wide range of the writers, genres and individual works to emerge from the regions, and also provides an overview of the main events and forces which have shaped the writing.Offering a chronology of literary and historical events, an extensive bibliography and biographical notes on individual authors, this text provides students with a fascinating historical and sociological overview of the literature in English from East and West Africa.Gareth Griffiths is Professor and Chair of English Studies in the Department of English, University of Western Australia.