''Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Words and Writings by Women of African Descent from the Ancient Egyptian to the Present'' is a compilation of

orature Oral literature, orature or folk literature is a genre of literature that is spoken or sung as opposed to that which is written, though much oral literature has been transcribed. There is no standard definition, as anthropologists have used var ...

and literature by more than 200 women from Africa and the African diaspora, edited and introduced by Margaret Busby,Tonya Bolden
"Book Review: Two Types of Revelation – ''Daughters of Africa''"
''

Black Enterprise ''Black Enterprise'' is a black-owned multimedia company. Since the 1970s, its flagship product ''Black Enterprise'' magazine has covered African-American businesses with a readership of 3.7 million. The company was founded in 1970 by Earl ...

'', March 1993, p. 12. who compared the process of assembling the volume to "trying to catch a flowing river in a calabash". First published in 1992,Kinna
"Daughters of Africa edited by Margaret Busby"
Kinna Reads, 24 September 2010. in London by Jonathan Cape (having been commissioned by Candida Lacey, formerly of Pandora Press and later publisher of

Myriad Editions Myriad Editions is an independent UK publishing house based in Brighton and Hove, specialising in topical atlases, graphic non-fiction and original fiction, whose output also encompasses graphic novels that span a variety of genres, including me ...

), and in New York by Pantheon Books, ''Daughters of Africa'' is regarded as a pioneering work, covering a variety of genres – including fiction, essays, poetry, drama, memoirs and children's writing – and more than 1000 pages in extent. Arranged chronologically, beginning with traditional oral poetry, it includes work translated from African languages as well as from Dutch, French, German, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish. The anthology's title derives from an 1831 declaration by

Maria W. Stewart Maria W. Stewart ( Miller) (1803 – December 17, 1879) was a free-born African American who became a teacher, journalist, lecturer, abolitionist, and women's rights activist. The first known American woman to speak to a mixed audience of men ...

(1803–1880), the first

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

woman to give public lectures, in which she said: "O, ye daughters of Africa, awake! awake! arise! no longer sleep nor slumber, but distinguish yourselves. Show forth to the world that ye are endowed with noble and exalted faculties." A companion volume called ''New Daughters of Africa'' – with the subtitle "An International Anthology of Writing by Women of African Descent", and featuring a further 200-plus contributors from around the world born between the 1790s and the 1990s – was published in 2019.''New Daughters of Africa'' page
at Myriad Editions.Ellen Mitchell and Sophie Kulik
"Q&A: Margaret Busby on ‘New Daughters of Africa’"
''Africa In Words'', 29 June 2019. Associated with the anthology is the Margaret Busby ''New Daughters of Africa'' Award for a woman student from Africa.

Reception

''Daughters of Africa'' was widely praised on publication. As described by

Bernardine Evaristo Bernardine Anne Mobolaji Evaristo, (born 28 May 1959) is a British author and academic. Her novel '' Girl, Woman, Other'', jointly won the Booker Prize in 2019 alongside Margaret Atwood's '' The Testaments'', making her the first woman with Bla ...

in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' in June 2020: "Bringing together fiction, poetry, memoir and essays, both books are an incredible introduction to black women’s writing from around the world, and feature every established name you can imagine, as well those who deserve to be better known." Reviewing the anthology for Black British newspaper ''The Weekly Journal'', Evie Arup wrote: "''Daughters of Africa'' is a literary first. Never before has the work of women of African descent world-wide been gathered together in one volume. The breadth of this collection is startling.... This book should be required reading for any student of literature, and a standard reference book in school libraries, and, to paraphrase that well known slogan, 'every home should have one. A reviewer from ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

'' observed: "This book may seem to be about literature but in the end it is as much a testament to language: its power to create attitudes as well as its potency as a means of expression." Described by ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...

'' as a "glorious fat anthology that makes a history out of a selection, and puts an unsung group of people on the map", according to '' Library Journal'', it is "an invaluable text for courses on women writers and writers of African descent","Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Words and Writings by Women of African Descent and from the Ancient Egyptian to the Present"
Editorial Reviews, Barnes & Noble. and Keneth Kinnamon in ''

Callaloo Callaloo (many spelling variants, such as kallaloo, calaloo, calalloo, calaloux or callalloo; ) is a popular Caribbean vegetable dish. There are many variants across the Caribbean, depending on the availability of local vegetables. The main in ...

'' saw it as "impressive", noting: "Brief headnotes and long bibliographies enhance the value of this important volume."

Lorna Sage Lorna Sage (13 January 1943 – 11 January 2001) was an English academic, literary critic and author, remembered especially for contributing to consideration of women's writing and for a memoir of her early life, '' Bad Blood'' (2000).ODNB entry ...

in the ''Independent on Sunday'' concluded that "''Daughters of Africa'' has a paradoxical universality", while ''

The Washington Post Book World ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nat ...

'' called it: "A magnificent starting place for any reader interested in becoming part of the collective enterprise of discovering and uncovering the silent, forgotten, and underrated voices of black women.""New in Paperback"
''The Washington Post'', 6 February 1994. The reviewer for ''

'' wrote: "It is a landmark anthology.... Busby's first-of-a-kind anthology is a poignant reminder of how vast and varied the body of black women's writing is." It has also been called "groundbreaking in its presentation and exposure of the work of female African writers", "one of the most significant assemblages of writers across the diaspora" and "the ultimate reference guide to the writing of 'daughters of Africa.Sharmilla Beezmohun
"Twenty-Five most influential books"
''

Wasafiri ''Wasafiri'' is a quarterly British literary magazine covering international contemporary writing. Founded in 1984, the magazine derives its name from a Swahili word meaning "travellers" that is etymologically linked with the Arabic word " safa ...

'', 19 January 2009. The ''

Times Literary Supplement ''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp. History The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to '' The Times'' but became a separate publication ...

'' review by

Maya Jaggi Maya Jaggi is a British writer, literary critic , editor and cultural journalist.Maya Jaggi profi ...

stated: "With rare exceptions, anthologies of black writing and of women's writing have given the impression that there was very little literary endeavour by black women before the 1980s. Margaret Busby's impressive and imaginative selection of 'words and writings', ''Daughters of Africa'', finally destroys that misconception, while tracing continuities within a tradition of women's writing, deriving from Africa yet stretching across continents and centuries."Maya Jaggi, "Ain't I a woman", ''The Times Literary Supplement'', 11 December 1992. Jaggi goes on to say: "Some writings (such as those by ancient Egyptian or Ethiopian queens) have been selected primarily for their historical significance, or to celebrate little-known landmarks of achievement. Most, however, have been chosen for their literary qualities, making the anthology a source of continual pleasure and surprise. (...) The cumulative power of this monumental and absorbing anthology stems from the clarity and vibrancy of the voices it assembles. While effectively dismissing the equation of oppression with 'voicelessness', it restores marginalized or isolated writers to the centre of their own rich, resilient and truly international tradition." The anthology was included in ''Sacred Fire: "QBR" 100 Essential Black Books'', which said:

"''Daughters of Africa'' is a monumental achievement because it is the most comprehensive international anthology of oral and written literature by women of African descent ever attempted. (...) The success of the collection is that it clearly illustrates why all women of African descent are connected by showing how closely related are the obstacles, the chasms of cultural indifference, and the disheartening racial and sexual dilemmas they faced. In so doing, the collection captures the range of their singular and combined accomplishments. ''Daughters of Africa''′s accomplishment lies in its glorious portrayal of the richness and magnitude of the spiritual well from which we've all drawn inspiration and to where we've all gone for sustenance, and as such, it is a stunning literary masterpiece."

The anthology was on the

Royal African Society The Royal African Society (RAS) of the United Kingdom was founded in 1901 to promote relations between the United Kingdom and countries in Africa. The RAS is a not-for-profit membership organisation based in London. In addition to producing its jour ...

's list of "50 Books By African Women That Everyone Should Read", was named by ''Ms Afropolitan'' as one of "7 non-fiction books African feminists should read", features regularly on many required-reading lists, and in the words of Kinna Likimani: "It remains the ultimate guide to women writers of African descent."

Contributors

More than 200 women are featured in ''Daughters of Africa'', including: * Opal Palmer Adisa * Abena Adomako *

Ama Ata Aidoo Ama Ata Aidoo, ''née'' Christina Ama Aidoo (born 23 March 1942) is a Ghanaian author, poet, playwright and academic. She was the Minister of Education under the Jerry Rawlings administration. In 2000, she established the Mbaasem Foundation t ...

Grace Akello Grace Akello (born 1950) is a Ugandan poet, essayist, folklorist, and politician. She is the Uganda Ambassador to India. Early life and education Dinah Grace Akello is Iteso, and was born near Soroti, in the Eastern Region of the Uganda Protec ...

* Zaynab Alkali * Ifi Amadiume * Maya Angelou *

Red Jordan Arobateau Red Jordan Arobateau (November 15, 1943 – November 25, 2021) was an American author, playwright, poet and painter. Largely self-publishing over 80 literary works—often with autofictional elements—Arobateau was one of the most prolific wr ...

* Iola Ashundie *

Mariama Bâ Mariama Bâ (April 17, 1929 – August 17, 1981) was a Senegalese author and feminist, whose two French-language novels were both translated into more than a dozen languages. Born in Dakar, she was raised a Muslim. Her frustration with the fate ...

* Baba *

Toni Cade Bambara Toni Cade Bambara, born Miltona Mirkin Cade (March 25, 1939 – December 9, 1995), was an African-American author, documentary film-maker, social activist and college professor. Biography Early life and education Miltona Mirkin Cade was bor ...

Valerie Belgrave Valerie Belgrave (3 March 1946 – 23 August 2016) was a Trinidadian artist, painter and author, who also composed music. Biography Valerie Belgrave was born and raised in Petit Bourg, San Juan, Trinidad. She attended St Joseph’s Convent, San Fe ...

Gwendolyn B. Bennett Gwendolyn B. Bennett (July 8, 1902 – May 30, 1981) was an American artist, writer, and journalist who contributed to '' Opportunity: A Journal of Negro Life'', which chronicled cultural advancements during the Harlem Renaissance. Though often ...

Louise Bennett Louise Simone Bennett-Coverley or Miss Lou (7 September 1919 – 26 July 2006), was a Jamaican poet, folklorist, writer, and educator. Writing and performing her poems in Jamaican Patois or Creole, Bennett worked to preserve the practice of p ...

* Julia Berger *

Eulalia Bernard Maunrice Eulalee Bernard Little (7 July 1935 – 11 July 2021), known as Eulalia Bernard, was a Costa Rican writer, poet, activist, politician, diplomat, and educator. She is considered in her country as an icon of the African descent culture. Ber ...

Ayse Bircan Ayse Bircan (born 1954) is a Turkish activist and writer. As a young left-wing organizer in Turkey, she was targeted by authorities and fled to England, where her work has focused on refugee rights. Her essay "Black and Turkish" appears in the 199 ...

"Tales of Travel, Daughters of Africa"
ICA talks.

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...

. *

Becky Birtha Becky Birtha (born October 11, 1948) is an American poet and children's author who lives in the greater Philadelphia area. She is best known for her poetry and short stories depicting African-American and lesbian relationships, often focusing on ...

Valerie Bloom Valerie Bloom MBE (born 1956)Jeffrey Wainwright''Poetry: The Basics''(2004), 2nd edition, Routledge, 2011, p. 21. is a Jamaican-born poet and a novelist based in the UK.Marita Bonner *

Dionne Brand Dionne Brand (born 7 January 1953) is a Canadian poet, novelist, essayist and documentarian. She was Toronto's third Poet Laureate from September 2009 to November 2012. She was admitted to the Order of Canada in 2017

Jean Binta Breeze Jean may refer to: People * Jean (female given name) * Jean (male given name) * Jean (surname) Fictional characters * Jean Grey, a Marvel Comics character * Jean Valjean, fictional character in novel ''Les Misérables'' and its adaptations * Jea ...

Virginia Brindis de Salas Virginia Brindis de Salas (18 September 1908 – 6 April 1958)"Brindis de Salas, Virginia"
Autores.uy. ...

Erna Brodber Erna Brodber (born 20 April 1940) is a Jamaican writer, sociologist and social activist. She is the sister of writer Velma Pollard. Biography Born in the farming village of Woodside, Saint Mary Parish, Jamaica, she gained a B.A. from the Unive ...

* Gwendolyn Brooks *

Barbara Burford Barbara Yvonne Veronica Burford (9 December 1944 – 20 February 2010) was a British medical researcher, Civil Service (United Kingdom), civil servant and writer. She was born in Jamaica and moved to the United Kingdom at the age of 10. Burford ...

* Annie L. Burton * Abena Busia *

Dinah Anuli Butler In the Book of Genesis, Dinah (; ) was the seventh child and only daughter of Leah and Jacob, and one of the matriarchs of the Israelites. The episode of her violation by Shechem, son of a Canaanite or Hivite prince, and the subsequent vengean ...

Octavia E. Butler Octavia Estelle Butler (June 22, 1947 – February 24, 2006) was an American science fiction author and a multiple recipient of the Hugo and Nebula awards. In 1995, Butler became the first science-fiction writer to receive a MacArthur Fellowshi ...

Joan Cambridge Joan Cambridge, also known as Joan Cambridge Mayfield, is a Guyanese writer. Beginning in the 1960s, Cambridge worked as a journalist, including as a reporter and as women's page editor of the ''Guiana Graphic'', which later became the ''Guyana ...

* Aída Cartagena Portalatín *

Adelaide Casely-Hayford Adelaide Casely-Hayford, MBE (née Smith; 2 June 1868 – 24 January 1960), was a Sierra Leone Creole advocate, an activist of cultural nationalism, a teacher and fiction writer and a feminist. Committed to public service, she worked to improv ...

Gladys Casely-Hayford Gladys May Casely-Hayford ''alias'' Aquah Laluah (11 May 1904 – October 1950) was a Gold Coast-born Sierra Leonean writer. She is credited as the first author to write in the Krio language. Early life and career Gladys was born into the Casel ...

Marie Chauvet Marie Vieux-Chauvet (born Marie Vieux; September 16, 1916 – June 19, 1973), was a Haitian novelist, poet and playwright. Born and educated in Port-au-Prince, she is most famous for the novels ''Fille d'Haïti'' (1954), ''La Danse sur le volcan' ...

Alice Childress Alice Childress (October 12, 1916 – August 14, 1994) was an American novelist, playwright, and actress, acknowledged as "the only African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic ...

Michelle Cliff Michelle Carla Cliff (2 November 1946 – 12 June 2016) was a Jamaican-American author whose notable works included ''Abeng'' (1985), '' No Telephone to Heaven'' (1987), and ''Free Enterprise'' (2004). In addition to novels, Cliff also wrote ...

Lucille Clifton Lucille Clifton (June 27, 1936 – February 13, 2010) was an American poet, writer, and educator from Buffalo, New York. From 1979 to 1985 she was Poet Laureate of Maryland. Clifton was a finalist twice for the Pulitzer Prize for poetry. Li ...

* Merle Collins *

Maryse Condé Maryse Condé (née Boucolon; February 11, 1937) is a French novelist, critic, and playwright from the French Overseas department and region of Guadeloupe. Condé is best known for her novel ''Ségou'' (1984–85).Condé, Maryse, and Richard ...

Anna Julia Cooper Anna Julia Haywood Cooper (August 10, 1858February 27, 1964) was an American author, educator, sociologist, speaker, Black liberation activist, and one of the most prominent African-American scholars in United States history. Born into slaver ...

J. California Cooper Joan Cooper (November 10, 1931 in Berkeley, California – September 20, 2014 in Seattle, Washington), known by her pen name, J. California Cooper, was an American playwright and author. She wrote 17 plays and was named Black Playwright of the Ye ...

Jayne Cortez Jayne Cortez (May 10, 1934 – December 28, 2012) was an African-American poet, activist, small press publisher and spoken-word performance artist whose voice is celebrated for its political, surrealistic and dynamic innovations in lyricism and ...

* Christine Craig *

Jane Tapsubei Creider Jane Tapsubei Creider (born 1940s) is a Kenyan writer of memoir, fiction, and non-fiction, including articles and books co-authored with her husband Chet. A. Creider on the Nandi–Markweta languages, Nandi language. She is also an artist. Backgr ...

Tsitsi Dangarembga Tsitsi Dangarembga (born 4 February 1959) is a Zimbabwean novelist, playwright and filmmaker. Her debut novel, '' Nervous Conditions'' (1988), which was the first to be published in English by a Black woman from Zimbabwe, was named by the BBC i ...

Angela Davis Angela Yvonne Davis (born January 26, 1944) is an American political activist, philosopher, academic, scholar, and author. She is a professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz. A feminist and a Marxist, Davis was a longtime member of ...

Thadious M. Davis Thadious M. Davis is the Geraldine R. Segal Professor of American Social Thought and Professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania. She is best known for her work on African American and Southern literature. Education and career Davis ...

Noémia de Sousa Carolina Noémia Abranches de Sousa Soares, known as Noémia de Sousa (20 September 1926 – 4 December 2002),Anita De Melo"Noémia de Sousa" in ''Dictionary of Literary Biography: African Lusophone Writers''. was a poet from Mozambique who wrote i ...

* Lucy Delaney * Nafissatou Diallo *

Rita Dove Rita Frances Dove (born August 28, 1952) is an American poet and essayist. From 1993 to 1995, she served as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress. She is the first African American to have been appointed since the positi ...

* Mabel Dove-Danquah *

Kate Drumgoold Kate Drumgoold (born c. 1858 or 1859 – ?) was an American woman born into slavery around 1858 near Petersburg, Virginia. Her life is captured in her 1898 autobiography, ''A Slave Girl's Story, Being an Autobiography of Kate Drumgoold.'' It offers ...

Alice Dunbar-Nelson Alice Dunbar Nelson (July 19, 1875 – September 18, 1935) was an American poet, journalist, and political activist. Among the first generation born free in the South after the Civil War, she was one of the prominent African Americans involved i ...

Zee Edgell Zelma Inez Edgell, better known as Zee Edgell, MBE (21 October 1940 – 20 December 2020), was a Belizean-born American writer who published four novels. She retired as a full, tenured professor of English at Kent State University. Biography Z ...

* Angelika Einsenbrandt * Zilpha Elaw * Old Elizabeth * Buchi Emecheta * Alda do Espirito Santo *

Mari Evans Mari Evans (July 16, 1919 – March 10, 2017) was an African-American poet, writer, and dramatist associated with the Black Arts Movement. Evans received grants and awards including a lifetime achievement award from the Indianapolis Public Libra ...

* Jessie Redmon Fauset * Charlotte Forten Grimké *

Aline França Aline may refer to: *Aline (given name), a feminine given name Places *Aline, Idaho, United States, first settlement of the Latter-day Saints movement, now a ghost town *Aline, Oklahoma, United States, a town *Loch Aline, Scotland *266 Aline, a ma ...

* Henrietta Fullor *

Amy Jacques Garvey Amy Euphemia Jacques Garvey (31 December 1895 – 25 July 1973) was a Jamaican-born journalist and activist. She was the second wife of Marcus Garvey. She was one of the pioneering female Black journalists and publishers of the 20th century.< ...

Beryl Gilroy Beryl Agatha Gilroy (''née'' Answick; 30 August 1924 – 4 April 2001) was a Guyanese educator, novelist, ethno-psychotherapist, and poet. ''The Guardian'' described her as "one of Britain's most significant post-war Caribbean migrants." She emi ...

Nikki Giovanni Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni Jr. (born June 7, 1943) is an American poet, writer, commentator, activist, and educator. One of the world's most well-known African-American poets,Jane M. Barstow, Yolanda Williams Page (eds)"Nikki Giovanni" ''E ...

* Vivian Glover *

Marita Golden Marita Golden (born April 28, 1950) is an American novelist, nonfiction writer, professor, and co-founder of the Hurston/Wright Foundation, a national organization that serves as a resource center for African-American writers. Background and caree ...

Jewelle Gomez Jewelle Gomez (born September 11, 1948) is an American author, poet, critic and playwright. She lived in New York City for 22 years, working in public television, theater, as well as philanthropy, before relocating to the West Coast. Her writing� ...

* Pilar López Gonzales *

Lorna Goodison Lorna Gaye Goodison CD (born 1 August 1947)Debo ...

* Serena Gordon * Hattie Gossett *

Rosa Guy Rosa Cuthbert Guy () (September 1, 1922Margalit Fox"Rosa Guy, 89, Author of Forthright Novels for Young People, Dies" ''The New York Times'', June 7, 2012. – June 3, 2012) was a Trinidad-born American writer who grew up in the New York metro ...

Lorraine Hansberry Lorraine Vivian Hansberry (May 19, 1930 – January 12, 1965) was a playwright and writer. She was the first African-American female author to have a play performed on Broadway. Her best-known work, the play ''A Raisin in the Sun'', highli ...

* Frances E. W. Harper *

Hatshepsut Hatshepsut (; also Hatchepsut; Egyptian: '' ḥꜣt- špswt'' "Foremost of Noble Ladies"; or Hatasu c. 1507–1458 BC) was the fifth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt. She was the second historically confirmed female pharaoh, af ...

* Iyamide Hazeley *

Bessie Head Bessie Amelia Emery Head (6 July 1937 – 17 April 1986) was a South African writer who, though born in South Africa, is usually considered Botswana's most influential writer. She wrote novels, short fiction and autobiographical works that are ...

* Georgina Herrera * Saida Herzi *

Merle Hodge Merle Hodge (born 1944) is a Trinidadian novelist and literary critic. Her 1970 novel '' Crick Crack, Monkey'' is a classic of West Indian literature, and Hodge is acknowledged as the first black Caribbean woman to have published a major work of f ...

Billie Holiday Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan; April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday had an innovative influence on jazz music and pop s ...

* bell hooks * Pauline Elizabeth Hopkins * Amelia Blossom House * Gloria T. Hull * Marsha Hunt *

Kristin Hunter Kristin Elaine Hunter (September 12, 1931 – November 14, 2008) was an African-American writer from Pennsylvania. She sometimes wrote under the name Kristin Hunter Lattany. She is best known for her first novel, ''God Bless the Child'', published ...

* Zora Neale Hurston *

Noni Jabavu Helen Nontando (Noni) Jabavu (20 August 1919 – 19 June 2008) was a South African writer and journalist, one of the first African women to pursue a successful literary career and the first black South African woman to publish books of autobiogr ...

* Mattie J. Jackson *

Harriet Jacobs Harriet Jacobs (1813 or 1815 – March 7, 1897) was an African-American writer whose autobiography, '' Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl'', published in 1861 under the pseudonym Linda Brent, is now considered an "American classic". Born int ...

* Carolina Maria de Jesus *

Alice Perry Johnson Alice may refer to: * Alice (name), most often a feminine given name, but also used as a surname Literature * Alice (''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland''), a character in books by Lewis Carroll * ''Alice'' series, children's and teen books by ...

Amryl Johnson Amryl Johnson (6 April 1944 – 1 February 2001) was a writer born in Trinidad who lived most of her life in Britain. Life Johnson was born in Tunapuna, Trinidad, and was brought up by her grandparents until the age of 11, when she moved to ...

Georgia Douglas Johnson Georgia Blanche Douglas Camp Johnson, better known as Georgia Douglas Johnson (September 10, 1880 – May 15, 1966), was a poet. She was one of the earliest female African-American playwrights, and an important figure of the Harlem Renaissance. ...

* Claudia Jones *

Gayl Jones Gayl Jones (born November 23, 1949) is an American writer from Lexington, Kentucky. She is recognized as a key figure in 20th-century African-American literature. Imani Perry posits Jones as "one of the most versatile and transformative writer ...

* Marion Patrick Jones *

June Jordan June Millicent Jordan (July 9, 1936 – June 14, 2002) was an American poet, essayist, teacher, and activist. In her writing she explored issues of gender, race, immigration, and representation. Jordan was passionate about using Black English ...

* Jackie Kay * Kebbedesh * Caroline Ntseliseng Khaketla *

Yelena Khanga Yelena Abdulaevna Khanga (russian: Еле́на Абдула́евна Ха́нга), also transliterated as Elena Hanga (born May 1, 1962), is a Russian journalist who was raised in Moscow, USSR, and came to the United States in 1990 to write (w ...

Jamaica Kincaid Jamaica Kincaid (; born May 25, 1949) is an Antiguan-American novelist, essayist, gardener, and gardening writer. She was born in St. John's, Antigua (part of the twin-island nation of Antigua and Barbuda). She lives in North Bennington, Vermo ...

Mwana Kupona Mwana Kupona binti Msham (born on Pate Island, died c. 1865) was a Swahili poet of the 19th century, author of a poem called ''Utendi wa Mwana Kupona'' ("The Book of Mwana Kupona"), which is one of the most well-known works of early Swahili litera ...

Ellen Kuzwayo Nnoseng Ellen Kate Kuzwayo (29 June 1914 – 19 April 2006) was a women's rights activist and politician in South Africa, and was a teacher from 1938 to 1952. She was president of the African National Congress Youth League in the 1960s. In 19 ...

Alda Lara Alda Ferreira Pires Barreto de Lara Albuquerque, known as Alda Lara (9 June 1930, Benguela, Angola – 30 January 1962, Cambambe, Angola) was a Portuguese-language Angolan poet.Margaret Busby (ed.), '' Daughters of Africa: An International Anthol ...

Nella Larsen Nellallitea "Nella" Larsen (born Nellie Walker; April 13, 1891 – March 30, 1964) was an American novelist. Working as a nurse and a librarian, she published two novels, ''Quicksand'' (1928) and '' Passing'' (1929), and a few short stories. Tho ...

* Andrea Lee *

Audre Lorde Audre Lorde (; born Audrey Geraldine Lorde; February 18, 1934 – November 17, 1992) was an American writer, womanist, radical feminist, professor, and civil rights activist. She was a self-described "black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet," wh ...

Elise Johnson McDougald Elise Johnson McDougald (October 13, 1885 – June 10, 1971), aka Gertrude Elise McDougald Ayer, was an American educator, writer, activist and first African-American woman principal in New York City public schools following the consolidation of t ...

Terry McMillan Terry McMillan (born October 18, 1951) is an American novelist. Her work centers around the experiences of Black women in the United States. Early life McMillan was born in Port Huron, Michigan. She received a B.A. in journalism in 1977 from ...

* Naomi Long Madgett * Lina Magaia *

Barbara Makhalisa Barbara Makhalisa (born 1949), also known by her married name as Barbara Nkala, is a teacher, List of Zimbabwean writers, Zimbabwean writer, Ndebele translator, novelist, editor and publisher, one of the earliest female writers published in Zimb ...

Zindzi Mandela Zindziswa "Zindzi" Mandela (23 December 196013 July 2020), also known as Zindzi Mandela-Hlongwane, was a South African diplomat and poet, and the daughter of anti-apartheid activists and politicians Nelson Mandela and Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. ...

Paule Marshall Paule Marshall (April 9, 1929 – August 12, 2019) was an American writer, best known for her 1959 debut novel '' Brown Girl, Brownstones''. In 1992, at the age of 63, Marshall was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship grant. Life and career Marshall wa ...

Una Marson Una Maud Victoria Marson (6 February 1905 – 6 May 1965) was a Jamaican feminist, activist and writer, producing poems, plays and radio programmes. She travelled to London in 1932 and became the first black woman to be employed by the BBC d ...

* Annette M'baye *

Pauline Melville Pauline Melville FRSL (born 1948) is an English/Guyanese-born writer and former actor of mixed European and Amerindian ancestry, who is currently based in London, England. Among awards she has received for her writing – which encompasses short ...

Louise Meriwether Louise Meriwether (born May 8, 1923) is an American novelist, essayist, journalist and activist, as well as a writer of biographies of historically important African Americans for children. She is best known for her first novel, ''Daddy Was a Num ...

Gcina Mhlope Nokugcina Elsie Mhlophe (born 24 October 1958), known as Gcina Mhlophe, is a South African storyteller, writer, playwright, and actress. In 2016 she was listed as one of BBC's 100 Women. She tells her stories in four of South Africa's languag ...

Anne Moody Anne Moody (September 15, 1940 – February 5, 2015) was an American author who wrote about her experiences growing up poor and black in rural Mississippi, and her involvement in the Civil Rights Movement through the NAACP, CORE and SNCC. Moody ...

Mary Monroe Mary Monroe is a ''New York Times'' bestselling African-American fiction author."My Novels"
Mary Monroe Officia ...

* Pamela Mordecai *

Nancy Morejón Nancy Morejón (born 1944 in Havana) is a Cuban poet, critic, and essayist. She was a recipient of the Struga Poetry Evenings Golden Wreath Award. She is "the best known and most widely translated woman poet of post-revolutionary Cuba". Biograp ...

Toni Morrison Chloe Anthony Wofford Morrison (born Chloe Ardelia Wofford; February 18, 1931 – August 5, 2019), known as Toni Morrison, was an American novelist. Her first novel, ''The Bluest Eye'', was published in 1970. The critically acclaimed '' So ...

Mwana Kupona Msham Mwana Kupona binti Msham (born on Pate Island, died c. 1865) was a Swahili poet of the 19th century, author of a poem called ''Utendi wa Mwana Kupona'' ("The Book of Mwana Kupona"), which is one of the most well-known works of early Swahili litera ...

Micere Githae Mugo Micere Githae Mugo (born Madeleine Micere Githae in 1942) is a playwright, author, activist, instructor and poet from Kenya. She is a literary critic and professor of literature in the Department of African American Studies at Syracuse Univers ...

Pauli Murray Anna Pauline "Pauli" Murray (November 20, 1910 – July 1, 1985) was an American civil rights activist who became a lawyer, gender equality advocate, Episcopal priest, and author. Drawn to the ministry, in 1977 she became one of the first women ...

* Gloria Naylor * Citeku Ndaaya * Womi Bright Neal *

Lauretta Ngcobo Lauretta Ngcobo (13 September 1931 – 3 November 2015)

Grace Nichols Grace Nichols FRSL (born 1950) is a Guyanese poet who moved to Britain in 1977, before which she worked as a teacher and journalist in Guyana. Her first collection, ''I is a Long-Memoried Woman'' (1983), won the Commonwealth Poetry Prize. In D ...

* Nisa *

Rebeka Njau Rebeka Njau (née Nyanjega; born 15 December 1932) was Kenya's first female playwright and a pioneer in the representation of African women in literature. Her writing has addressed topics such as female genital mutilation and homosexuality. Her f ...

Flora Nwapa Florence Nwanzuruahu Nkiru Nwapa (13 January 1931 – 16 October 1993), was a Nigerian author who has been called the mother of modern African literature, African Literature. She was the forerunner to a generation of African women writers, and ...

* Sekai Nzenza *

Grace Ogot Grace Emily Ogot (née Akinyi; 15 May 1930 – 18 March 2015) was a Kenyan author, nurse, journalist, politician and diplomat. Together with Charity Waciuma she was the first Anglophone female Kenyan writer to be published.Mike Kuria, ed. ''Ta ...

* Molara Ogundipe-Leslie *

May Opitz May Ayim (3 May 1960 in Hamburg – 9 August 1996 in Berlin) is the pen name of May Opitz (born Sylvia Andler); she was an Afro-Germans, Afro-German poet, educator, and activist. The child of a German student and Ghanaian medical student, she was ...

* Gabriela Pearse *

Ann Petry Ann Petry (October 12, 1908 – April 28, 1997) was an American writer of novels, short stories, children's books and journalism. Her 1946 debut novel ''The Street'' became the first novel by an African-American woman to sell more than a milli ...

Marlene Nourbese Philip Marlene Nourbese Philip (born 3 February 1947), usually credited as M. NourbeSe Philip, is a Canadian poet, novelist, playwright, essayist and short story writer. Life and works Born in the Caribbean in Woodlands, Moriah, Trinidad and Tobago, W ...

* J. J. Phillips * Ann Plato *

Velma Pollard Velma Pollard (born 1937) is a Jamaican poet and fiction writer. Among her most noteworthy works are ''Shame Trees Don't Grow Here'' (1991) and ''Leaving Traces'' (2007). She is known for the melodious and expressive mannerisms in her work. She is ...

Marsha Prescod Marsha is a variant spelling of Marcia. Notable people with the name include: *Marsha Ambrosius (born 1977), former member of the English band duo Floetry *Marsha Arzberger (born 1937), Democratic politician * Marsha Barbour, first lady of the U ...

Mary Prince Mary Prince (c. 1 October 1788 – after 1833) was a British abolitionist and autobiographer, born in Bermuda to a slave family of African descent. After being sold a number of times, and being moved around the Caribbean, she was brought to Engl ...

* Nancy Prince *

Queen of Sheba The Queen of Sheba ( he, מַלְכַּת שְׁבָא‎, Malkaṯ Šəḇāʾ; ar, ملكة سبأ, Malikat Sabaʾ; gez, ንግሥተ ሳባ, Nəgśətä Saba) is a figure first mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. In the original story, she bring ...

* Christine Qunta * Joan Riley *

Astrid Roemer Astrid Heligonda Roemer (; born 27 April 1947) is a Surinamese-Netherlands, Dutch writer and teacher. The Dutch-language author has published novels, drama and poetry, and in December 2015 was announced as the winner of the P. C. Hooft Award, c ...

* Carolyn Rodgers * Marta Rojas *

Lucinda Roy Lucinda Roy (born December 19, 1955) is an American-based British novelist, educator and poet. Biography She was born in Battersea, South London, England, to Jamaican writer and artist Namba Roy and Yvonne Roy (''née'' Shelley), an English act ...

* Jacqueline Rudet *

Kristina Rungano Kristina Masuwa-Morgan (born 28 February 1963) is a Zimbabwean poet and short story writer, better known as Kristina Rungano. She was the first published Zimbabwean woman poet. Biography Rungano was born in 1963 in Harare, Zimbabwe. Her father, w ...

* Sandi Russell *

Sonia Sanchez Sonia Sanchez (born Wilsonia Benita Driver; September 9, 1934) is an American poet, writer, and professor. She was a leading figure in the Black Arts Movement and has written over a dozen books of poetry, as well as short stories, critical essays ...

Simone Schwarz-Bart Simone Schwarz-Bart (born Simone Brumant, 1938) is a French novelist and playwright of Guadeloupean origin. She is a recipient of the Grand prix des lectrices de Elle. Life Simone Brumant was born in 1938 at Saintes in the Charente-Maritime dep ...

Mary Seacole Mary Jane Seacole (;Anionwu E.N. (2012) Mary Seacole: nursing care in many lands. ''British Journal of Healthcare Assistants'' 6(5), 244–248. 23 November 1805 – 14 May 1881) was a British-Jamaican nurse and businesswoman who set up t ...

Mabel Segun Mabel Segun, NNOM (born 1930) is a Nigerian poet, playwright and writer of short stories and children's books. She has also been a teacher, broadcaster, and a sports woman. Biography Born in Ondo City, Nigeria, she had her secondary school ed ...

* Olive Senior *

Dulcie September Dulcie Evonne September (20 August 1935 – 29 March 1988) was a South African anti-apartheid political activist. Born in Athlone, Western Cape, South Africa, she was assassinated in Paris, France. Early life The second eldest daughter of Jak ...

Ntozake Shange Ntozake Shange ( ;
FilmReference.com. Retrieved October 27, 2018. October 18, 1948 – October 27, 2018) ...

* Jenneba Sie Jalloh *

Joyce Sikakane Joyce Nomafa Sikakane, later Sikakane-Rankin (born 1943), is a South African journalist and activist. She was detained by the Apartheid South African government for 17 months for her anti-apartheid activism. Biography Early life and education ...

Zulu Sofola Nwazuluwa Onuekwuke "Zulu" Sofola (22 June 1935 – 5 September 1995)Biography
, ′Zulu Sofola official web ...

Aminata Sow Fall Aminata Sow Fall (born 27 April 1941) is a Senegalese-born author. While her native language is Wolof, her books are written in French. She is considered "the first published woman novelist from francophone Black Africa".Margaret Busby, '' Daugh ...

Anne Spencer Anne Bethel Spencer (born Bannister; February 6, 1882 – July 27, 1975) was an American poet, teacher, civil rights activist, librarian, and gardener. Though she lived outside New York City, the recognized center of the Harlem Renaissance, also ...

Eintou Pearl Springer Eintou Pearl Springer (formerly Pearl Eintou Springer) (born Cantaro village, Santa Cruz, Trinidad, 24 November 1944) is a poet, playwright, librarian and cultural activist from Trinidad and Tobago. In May 2002, she was named Poet Laureate of P ...

Maud Sulter Maud Sulter (19 September 1960 – 27 February 2008) was a Scottish contemporary fine artist, photographer, writer, educator, feminist, cultural historian, and curator of Ghanaian heritage. She began her career as a writer and poet, becoming a v ...

Efua Sutherland Efua Theodora Sutherland (born 27 June 1924 – 2 January 1996) was a Ghanaian playwright, director, dramatist, children's author, poet, educationalist, researcher, child advocate, and cultural activist. Her works include the plays ''Foriwa'' ...

Véronique Tadjo Véronique Tadjo (born 1955) is a writer, poet, novelist, and artist from Côte d'Ivoire. Having lived and worked in many countries within the African continent and African diaspora, diaspora, she feels herself to be Pan-Africanism, pan-African ...

* Susie King Taylor *

Lourdes Teodoro Lourdes Teodoro (born 4 June 1946) is an Afro-Brazilian academic, writer, poet, and psychoanalyst who studies the effects of colonization on identity. Biography Maria de Lourdes Teodoro was born on 4 June 1946 in Vila Couros, Goiás, Brazil. In 19 ...

* Mary Church Terrell * Lucy Terry *

Awa Thiam Awa Thiam (born 1950) is a Senegalese politician, academic, writer, and activist. She serves as Senegal's Director of the National Center for Assistance and Training of Women under the Ministry of Women and Children. She is an advocate against f ...

* Elean Thomas *

Miriam Tlali Miriam Tlali (11 November 1933 – 24 February 2017) was a South African novelist. She was the first black woman in South Africa to publish an English-language novel, ''Between Two Worlds'', in 1975. She was also one of the first to write about S ...

* Sojourner Truth *

Harriet Tubman Harriet Tubman (born Araminta Ross, March 10, 1913) was an American abolitionist and social activist. Born into slavery, Tubman escaped and subsequently made some 13 missions to rescue approximately 70 slaves, including family and friends, u ...

* Adaora Lily Ulasi * Bethany Veney *

Charity Waciuma Charity Waciuma (born 1936) is a Kenyan writer, who wrote several novels for adolescents and an autobiographical novel, ''Daughter of Mumbi'' (1969). Her work draws on Kikuyu legends and storytelling traditions. In the 1960s Waciuma and Grace Ogot ...

Alice Walker Alice Malsenior Tallulah-Kate Walker (born February 9, 1944) is an American novelist, short story writer, poet, and social activist. In 1982, she became the first African-American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, which she was awa ...

Margaret Walker Margaret Walker (Margaret Abigail Walker Alexander by marriage; July 7, 1915 – November 30, 1998) was an American poet and writer. She was part of the African-American literary movement in Chicago, known as the Chicago Black Renaissance. H ...

Michele Wallace Michele Faith Wallace (born January 4, 1952) is a black feminist author, cultural critic, and daughter of artist Faith Ringgold. She is best known for her 1979 book ''Black Macho and the Myth of the Superwoman''. Wallace's writings on literature, ...

Myriam Warner-Vieyra Myriam Warner-Vieyra (25 March 1939 – 29 December 2017) was a Guadeloupean-born writer of novels and poetry. Biography The daughter of Caribbean parents, she was born Myriam Warner in Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe. She completed secondary sch ...

* Angelina Weld Grimké *

Ida B. Wells Ida B. Wells (full name: Ida Bell Wells-Barnett) (July 16, 1862 – March 25, 1931) was an American investigative journalist, educator, and early leader in the civil rights movement. She was one of the founders of the National Association for ...

* Dorothy West *

Phillis Wheatley Phillis Wheatley Peters, also spelled Phyllis and Wheatly ( – December 5, 1784) was an American author who is considered the first African-American author of a published book of poetry. Gates, Henry Louis, ''Trials of Phillis Wheatley: Ameri ...

* Zoe Wicomb *

Sherley Anne Williams Sherley Anne Williams (August 25, 1944 – July 6, 1999) was an American poet, novelist, professor, vocalist, jazz poet, playwright and social critic. Many of her works tell stories about her life in the African-American community. Biography ...

Harriet E. Wilson Harriet E. Wilson (March 15, 1825 – June 28, 1900) was an African-American novelist. She was the first African American to publish a novel on the North American continent. Her novel '' , or Sketches from the Life of a Free Black'' was ...

Sylvia Wynter ''The Honourable'' Sylvia Wynter, O.J. ( Holguín, Cuba, 11 May 1928) is a Jamaican novelist, /sup> dramatist, /sup> critic, philosopher, and essayist. /sup> Her work combines insights from the natural sciences, the humanities, art, and anti-c ...

Editions

* Margaret Busby (ed.), ''Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Words and Writings by Women of African Descent from the Ancient Egyptian to the Present''. First edition, London: Jonathan Cape, hardback, 1992 (), 1089 pages. * — London:

Vintage Books Vintage Books is a trade paperback publishing imprint of Penguin Random House originally established by Alfred A. Knopf in 1954. The company was purchased by Random House in April 1960, and a British division was set up in 1990. After Random ...

, paperback, 1993 (). * — New York: Pantheon Books, hardback, 1992 (). * — New York: Ballantine/One World Books, paperback, 1994 ().

Influence and legacy

The anthology inspired

Koyo Kouoh Koyo Kouoh (born 1967) is Cameroonian-born curator who has been serving as Executive Director and Chief Curator of the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in Cape Town since 2019. In 2015, the ''New York Times'' called her "one of Africa’ ...

to edit a German-language equivalent, ''Töchter Afrikas'', that was published in 1994. In 2009 ''Daughters of Africa'' was on ''

'' magazine's list of 25 Most Influential Books from the previous quarter-century. In November 2017, ''Wasafiri'' included a special feature marking the 25th anniversary of the first publication of ''Daughters of Africa'', including an interview with the editor by

Ellah Wakatama Allfrey Ellah Wakatama, OBE, Hon. FRSL (born 16 September 1966), is Editor-at-Large at Canongate Books, a senior Research Fellow at Manchester University and Chair of the AKO Caine Prize for African Writing. She was the founding Publishing Direct ...

, an article by Candida Lacey and contributions from

Ayobami Adebayo Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀ (born 29 January 1988) is a Nigerian writer. Her 2017 debut novel, '' Stay With Me'', won the 9mobile Prize for Literature and the Prix Les Afriques. She was awarded The Future Awards Africa Prize for Arts and Culture ...

Edwige-Renée Dro Edwige-Renée Dro (born 1980s) is a writer, translator and literary activist from Côte d'Ivoire. She is co-founder of the literature collective Abidjan Lit. Career In 2014 Edwige-Renée Dro was named as one of those chosen for the Africa39 project ...

, Angela Barry, Goretti Kyomuhendo, Nadifa Mohamed, and Phillippa Yaa de Villiers about the influence of the anthology on them. "Importantly, it was a beacon for every young black woman who dreamed of writing. Phillippa Yaa de Villiers told Busby, 'We were behind the bars of apartheid – we South Africans had been cut off from the beauty and majesty of African thought traditions, and ''Daughters of Africa'' was among those works that replenished our starved minds. In March 2019 on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

's ''

Woman's Hour ''Woman's Hour'' is a radio magazine programme broadcast in the United Kingdom on the BBC Light Programme, BBC Radio 2, and later BBC Radio 4. It has been on the air since 1946. History Created by Norman Collins and originally presented by ...

'', in an interview alongside Busby,

Candice Carty-Williams Candice Carty-Williams (born 21 July 1989) is a British writer, best known for her 2019 debut novel, '' Queenie''. She has written for publications including ''The Guardian'', '' i-D'', ''Vogue'', ''The Sunday Times'', ''BEAT Magazine'', and ''B ...

spoke of first encountering the anthology through her godmother Heidi Safia Mirza, Professor or Race at

Goldsmiths, University of London Goldsmiths, University of London, officially the Goldsmiths' College, is a constituent research university of the University of London in England. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by the Wo ...

: "...she had 'Daughters of Africa''on her shelf. She was my only access point to feminism ... and so her shelves were where I understood my place in the world, and this book always piqued my interest because just to pick it up and see the size of it and to understand that there were so many contributors from the same place as me, that was amazing." Listing many of the names included in ''Daughters of Africa'', Tom Odhiambo of the

University of Nairobi The University of Nairobi (uonbi or UoN; ) is a collegiate research university based in Nairobi. It is the largest university in Kenya. Although its history as an educational institution dates back to 1956, it did not become an independent univer ...

stated: "These writers can be described as the matriarchs of African literature. They pioneered 'African' writing, in which they were not simply writing stories about their families, communities and countries, but they were also writing themselves into the African literary history and African historiography. They claimed space for women storytellers in the written form, and in some sense reclaimed the woman’s role as the creator and carrier of many African societies’ narratives, considering that the traditional storytelling session was a women's domain."Tom Odhiambo
"‘New Daughters of Africa’ is a must read for aspiring young women writers"
''Daily Nation'', 18 January 2020. In a May 2022 feature in ''

Elle ''Elle'' (stylized ''ELLE'') is a worldwide women's magazine of French origin that offers a mix of fashion and beauty content, together with culture, society and lifestyle. The title means "she" or "her" in French. ''Elle'' is considered the w ...

'' magazine,

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie ( ; born 15 September 1977) is a Nigerian writer whose works include novels, short stories and nonfiction. She was described in ''The Times Literary Supplement'' as "the most prominent" of a "procession of criticall ...

chose ''Daughters of Africa'' as "The book that...fills me with hope": "because it introduced me to many talented writers that I might not otherwise have read, and it makes me remember, with gratitude, the women who came before me." In November 2022,

Sheila Rowbotham Sheila Rowbotham (born 27 February 1943) is a British socialist feminist theorist and historian. Early life Rowbotham was born on 27 February 1943 in Leeds (in present-day West Yorkshire), the daughter of a salesman for an engineering company a ...

listed ''Daughters of Africa'' in ''The Guardian'' as one of the books representing her "Top 10 dissenting life stories". Busby was quoted by

Gary Younge Gary Andrew Younge , (born January 1969) is a British journalist, author, broadcaster and academic. He was editor-at-large for ''The Guardian'' newspaper, which he joined in 1993. In November 2019, it was announced that Younge had been appointe ...

as saying: "Until you can no longer count the number of African women writers who have broken through then we’ve still got work to do," prior to the publication of her second anthology.

''New Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Writing by Women of African Descent''

In December 2017, it was announced that a companion volume, entitled ''New Daughters of Africa'', had been commissioned from Margaret Busby by

. Published on 8 March 2019 and characterised as "a behemoth of thought and reflection, exploring sisterhood, tradition, romance, race and identity – individually, and at large", ''New Daughters of Africa: An international anthology of writing by women of African descent'' features a further 200 writers: "The new volume expands on and reinforces the assertions of its predecessor. While including texts from the nineteenth century to the present, the book focuses primarily on writers who have come of age in the decades following ''Daughters of Africa''s publication." Contributors are arranged according to decade of birth, "to give context to the generational links", as the editor states, and to continue to chart the black feminist literary canon. The anthology contains not only many well-known names but "a host of literary notables of the future".

Kevin Le Gendre Kevin Le Gendre is a British journalist, broadcaster and author whose work focuses on Black music. He is deputy editor of ''Echoes'' magazine, has written for a wide range of publications, including ''Jazzwise'', ''MusicWeek'', '' Vibrations'', ' ...

states in his review in '' Echoes'' magazine that "this inspiring collection punches above its very considerable weight.... The result is great diversity within a supposed minority, a resounding statement of the infinitely rich life experience of the 'sisters' drawn from Africa and the Diaspora. As was the case with the acclaimed first edition there is a commendable balance between those who are known and those who are unknown but nonetheless have illuminating things to say. ... Busby has grouped the texts by decade, reaching right back to the pre-1900, which results in a clear and vivid sense of evolution in both style and subject matter." Among the contributors to ''New Daughters of Africa'' are:

Adeola Solanke Adeola Solanke FRSA, commonly known as Ade Solanke, is a British-Nigerian playwright and screenwriter. She is best known for her debut stage play, ''Pandora's Box'', which was produced at the Arcola Theatre in 2012, and was nominated as Best Ne ...

Adrienne Kennedy Adrienne Kennedy (born September 13, 1931) is an American playwright.Peterson, Jane T., and Suzanne Bennett. "Adrienne Kennedy". ''Women Playwrights of Diversity''. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1997. 201–205. She is best known for '' Funnyhous ...

Afua Hirsch Afua Hirsch (born 1981) is a British writer and broadcaster. She has worked as a journalist for '' The Guardian'' newspaper, and was the Social Affairs and Education Editor for Sky News from 2014 until 2017. Early life Afua Hirsch was born in ...

Aida Edemariam Aida Edemariam is an Ethiopian-Canadian journalist based in the UK, who has worked in New York, Toronto and London. She was formerly deputy review and books editor of the Canadian ''National Post'', and is now a senior feature writer and editor a ...

, Aja Monet, Akosua Busia,

Ama Biney Ama Biney (born 1960s) is a British Ghanaian historian, journalist, political scientist and academic, who for more than 25 years has lectured and taught courses on African and Caribbean history, the History of Black People in Britain, and on inter ...

, Aminatta Forna,

Amma Asante Amma Asante (born 13 September 1969) is a British filmmaker, screenwriter, former actress, and Chancellor at Norwich University of the Arts, who was born in London to parents from Ghana. Her love for the film industry started when she receive ...

Anaïs Duplan Anaïs Duplan (born 1992) is a Haitian writer now based in the U.S., with three book publications from Action Books, Black Ocean Press, and Brooklyn Arts Press, respectively. His work has been honored by a Whiting Award and a Marian Goodman fello ...

Andaiye Andaiye, born Sandra Williams (11 September 1942 – 31 May 2019),Joanne Collins-Gonsalves"Andaiye (1942– )" in Franklin W. Knight and Henry Louis Gates Jr. (eds), ''Dictionary of Caribbean and Afro–Latin American Biography'', Oxford Univers ...

Andrea Levy Andrea Levy (7 March 1956 – 14 February 2019) was an English author best known for the novels '' Small Island'' (2004) and ''The Long Song'' (2010). She was born in London to Jamaican parents, and her work explores topics related to British ...

, Andrea Stuart, Angela Barry, Angela Cobbinah,

Anni Domingo Anni Domingo (born 1950s) is a British actress, director and writer, working in theatre, television, radio and films. She additionally holds positions on the boards of several organisations in various sectors, and has said: "You can't make a di ...

, Arthenia Bates Millican,

Ayesha Harruna Attah Ayesha Harruna Attah (born December 1983) is a Ghanaian-born fiction writer. She lives in Senegal. Early years and education Ayesha Harruna Attah was born in Accra, Ghana, in the 1980s, under a military government, to a mother who was a journali ...

Ayeta Anne Wangusa Ayeta Anne Wangusa (born Kampala, Uganda, 9 September 1971) is a Ugandan writer and activist. A founding member (1995) of FEMRITE, the Uganda Women Writers Association,

Ayòbámi Adébáyò Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀ (born 29 January 1988) is a Nigerian writer. Her 2017 debut novel, ''Stay with Me (novel), Stay With Me'', won the 9mobile Prize for Literature and the Prix Les Afriques. She was awarded The Future Awards Africa Prize f ...

Barbara Chase-Riboud Barbara Chase-Riboud (born June 26, 1939) is an American Visual arts, visual artist and sculptor, bestselling novelist, and award-winning poet. After becoming established as a sculptor and poet, Chase-Riboud gained widespread recognition as an ...

Barbara Jenkins Barbara Jenkins is a Trinidad and Tobago, Trinidadian writer, whose work since 2010 has won several international prizes, including the Commonwealth Short Story Prize and the Queen Mary Wasafiri New Writing Prize, ''Wasafiri'' New Writing Prize. ...

, Beatrice Lamwaka,

, Beverley Bryan,

Bonnie Greer Bonnie Greer, OBE FRSL (born 16 November 1948) is an American-British playwright, novelist, critic and broadcaster, who has lived in the UK since 1986. She has appeared as a panellist on television programmes such as ''Newsnight Review'' and ''Q ...

Bridget Minamore Bridget Minamore (born 1991) is a British poet, essayist, journalist and critic. She is the author of the 2016 poetry collection ''Titanic'', and her writing has appeared in such outlets as ''The Guardian'', ''The Stage'', '' i'', ''The Fader'', ...

Camille T. Dungy Camille T. Dungy (born 1972) is an American poet and professor. Career Born in Denver, Colorado, Dungy graduated from Stanford University (BA) and the University of North Carolina, Greensboro, where she earned her MFA. She is the author of four ...

, Candace Allen,

Carolyn Cooper Carolyn Cooper CD (born 20 November 1950) is a Jamaican author, essayist and literary scholar. She is a former professor of Literary and Cultural Studies at the University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica. From 1975 to 1980, she was an assist ...

, Catherine Johnson, Chibundu Onuzo,

Chika Unigwe Chika Nina Unigwe (born 12 June 1974) is a Nigerian-born Igbo author who writes in English and Dutch. In April 2014 she was selected for the Hay Festival's Africa39 list of 39 Sub-Saharan African writers aged under 40 with potential and talent t ...

Chinelo Okparanta Chinelo Okparanta (born 1981) is a Nigerian-American novelist and Short story, short-story writer. She was born in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, where she was raisedRae Winkelstein-Duveneck"Religion, The Bible, and Personal Morality: An Interview with ...

Claudia Rankine Claudia Rankine (; born September 4, 1963) is an American poet, essayist, playwright and the editor of several anthologies. She is the author of five volumes of poetry, two plays and various essays. Her book of poetry, '' Citizen: An American L ...

Cordelia Ray Henrietta Cordelia Ray (August 30, 1852 – January 5, 1916) was an African-American poet and teacher. Her parents were notable abolitionists, and had worked for the Underground Railroad in Manhattan. Biography Cordelia Ray was born in New York C ...

Danielle Legros Georges Danielle Legros Georges is a Haitian-born American poet, essayist and academic. She is a professor of creative writing in the Lesley University MFA Program in Creative Writing.Delia Jarrett-Macauley Delia Jarrett-Macauley , also known as Dee Jarrett-Macauley, is a London-based British writer, academic and broadcaster of Sierra Leonean heritage. Her debut novel, ''Moses, Citizen & Me'', won the 2006 Orwell Prize for political writing, the fi ...

Diana Evans Diana Omo Evans FRSL (born 1972) is a British novelist, journalist and critic who was born and lives in London. Evans has written three full-length novels. Her first novel, ''26a'', published in 2005, won the Orange Award for New Writers, the ...

Diana Ferrus Diana Ferrus (born 29 August 1953, Worcester, Western Cape) is a South African writer and storyteller of mixed Khoisan and slave ancestry. Her work is published in Afrikaans and English. Ferrus leads writing workshops in Cape Town while working as ...

, Diane Abbott,

Donika Kelly Donika Kelly (born early 1980s)

Doreen Baingana Doreen Baingana (born 1966) is a Ugandan writer and literary arts manager. Her short story collection, ''Tropical Fish,'' won the Grace Paley Award for Short Fiction in 2003 and the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for best first book, Africa Region ...

Dorothea Smartt Dorothea Smartt FRSL (born 1963) is an English-born poet of Barbadian descent. Biography The daughter of Caribbean immigrants from Barbados, Dorothea Smartt was born in London, England, and grew up there. She earned a BA degree in Social Scie ...

Edwidge Danticat Edwidge Danticat (; born January 19, 1969) is a Haitian-American novelist and short story writer. Her first novel, ''Breath, Eyes, Memory'', was published in 1994 and went on to become an Oprah's Book Club selection. Danticat has since written or ...

Effie Waller Smith Effie Waller Smith (January 6, 1879 – January 2, 1960) was an African-American poet of the early twentieth century. Her published output consisted of three volumes of poetry: ''Songs of the Month'' (1904), ''Rhymes From the Cumberland'' (1904 ...

Elizabeth Keckley Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley (February 1818 – May 1907) was an American seamstress, activist, and writer who lived in Washington, D.C. She was best known as the personal dressmaker and confidante of Mary Todd Lincoln. Born into slavery, she was ow ...

Elizabeth Nunez Elizabeth Nunez is a Trinidadian American novelist and Distinguished Professor of English at Hunter College– CUNY, New York City. Her novels have won a number of awards: ''Prospero's Daughter'' received the ''New York Times'' Editors' Choice ...

, Elizabeth Walcott-Hackshaw,

Ellen Banda-Aaku Ellen Banda-Aaku (born 6 May 1965) is a Zambian author, radio drama and film producer who was born in the UK and grew up in Africa.

Esi Edugyan Esi Edugyan (born 1978) is a Canadian novelist.Donna Bailey Nurse"Writing the blues" ''Quill & Quire'', July 2011. She has twice won the Giller Prize, for her novels '' Half-Blood Blues'' and '' Washington Black''. Biography Esi Edugyan was born ...

Eve Ewing Eve Louise Ewing (born 1986) is an American sociologist, author, poet, and visual artist from Chicago, Illinois. Ewing is a tenured professor at the School of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago. Her academic research in ...

Florida Ruffin Ridley Florida Ruffin Ridley (born Florida Yates Ruffin; January 29, 1861 – February 25, 1943) was an African-American civil rights activist, suffragist, teacher, writer, and editor from Boston, Massachusetts. She was one of the first black public sch ...

Gabeba Baderoon Gabeba Baderoon (born 21 February 1969) is a South African poet and academic. She is the 2005 recipient of the Daimler Chrysler Award for South African Poetry. She lives and works in Cape Town, South Africa, and Pennsylvania, US, and serves as ...

, Gabrielle Civil,

Glaydah Namukasa Glaydah Namukasa is a Ugandan writer"Women writin ...

, Goretti Kyomuhendo,

Hannah Azieb Pool Hannah Azieb Pool (born 1974) is a British–Eritrean writer and journalist. She was born near the town of Keren in Eritrea during the war for independence from Ethiopia. She is a former staff writer for ''The Guardian'' newspaper, and writes r ...

Harriet Anena Ber Anena born and previously published as Harriet Anena is a Ugandan writer and performer, whose writing includes poetry, nonfiction and fiction. She is the author of a collection of poems, ''A Nation In Labour'', published in 2015, won the 201 ...

, Hawa Jande Golakai, Hilda Twongyeirwe,

Imbolo Mbue Imbolo Mbue (born 1981) is a Cameroonian-American novelist and short-story writer based in New York City. She is known for her debut novel '' Behold the Dreamers'' (2016), which has garnered her the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction and the Blue M ...

Irenosen Okojie Irenosen Iseghohi Okojie FRSL is a Nigerian-born short story and novel writer working in London. Her stories incorporate speculative elements and also make use of her West African heritage. Her first novel, ''Butterfly Fish'' won a Betty Trask ...

Isabella Matambanadzo Isabella Matambanadzo (born 5 June 1973) is a Zimbabwean writer, gender and feminist activist active with the African Feminist Forum. With a background in print, radio and television Journalism, she has used media to amplify women's voices. She al ...

, Jackee Budesta Batanda,

Jacqueline Bishop Jacqueline Bishop is a writer, visual artist and photographer from Jamaica, who now lives in New York City, where she is a professor at the School of Liberal Studies at New York University (NYU).Jay Bernard Jay Bernard may refer to: *Jay Bernard (writer) Jay Bernard (born 1988), FRSL, is a British writer, artist, film programmer, and activist from London, UK. Bernard has been a programmer at BFI Flare since 2014, co-editor of ''Oxford Poetry'', an ...

, Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi,

Jennifer Teege Jennifer Teege (born 29 June 1970) is a German writer. Her maternal grandfather was German Nazi concentration camp commander and war criminal Amon Göth. Her 2015 book '' My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me: A Black Woman Discovers Her Family's Nazi ...

Jesmyn Ward Jesmyn Ward (born April 1, 1977) is an American novelist and a Professor of English at Tulane University, where she holds the Andrew W. Mellon Professorship in the Humanities. She won the 2011 National Book Award for Fiction for her second novel ...

Joan Anim-Addo Joan Anim-Addo is a Grenadian-born academic, poet, playwright and publisher, who is Emeritus Professor of Caribbean Literature and Culture in the English and Creative Writing Department at Goldsmiths, University of London. Academic career Born ...

, Joanne C. Hillhouse, Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin,

Juliana Makuchi Nfah-Abbenyi Juliana Makuchi Nfah-Abbenyi (pen name, Makuchi) is a professor and writer from Cameroon. She is the first Beba woman to earn two doctorates. An alumna of the University of Yaoundé (BA, MA, Doctorate) and McGill University (Ph.D.), she taught at t ...

Juliane Okot Bitek Juliane Okot Bitek (born 1966) is a Kenyan-born Ugandan-raised diasporic writer and academic, who lives, studies and works in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. She is perhaps best-known for her poetry book ''100 Days'', a reflection on the 10 ...

Kadija Sesay Kadija George , Hon. FRSL (born 1962), also known as Kadija Sesay, is a British literary activist, short story writer and poet of Sierra Leonean descent, and the publisher and managing editing, editor of the magazine ''SABLE LitMag''. Her work ...

Karen Lord Karen Lord (born 22 May 1968) is a Barbadian people, Barbadian writer of speculative fiction. Her first novel, ''Redemption in Indigo'' (2010), retells the story "Ansige Karamba the Glutton" from Senegalese folklore and her second novel, ''The B ...

Karen McCarthy Woolf Karen McCarthy Woolf (born 1966) is a poet of English and Jamaican parentage. Early life and education Karen McCarthy Woolf was born in London to English and Jamaican parents. Her father emigrated to the United Kingdom in 1957 as a part of the ...

, Ketty Nivyabandi,

Kit de Waal Mandy Theresa O'Loughlin (born 26 July 1960), known professionally as Kit de Waal, is a British/Irish writer. Her debut novel, ''My Name Is Leon'', was published by Penguin Books in June 2016. After securing the publishing deal with Penguin, De ...

, Lebogang Mashile,

Leila Aboulela Leila Fuad Aboulela (Arabic:ليلى فؤاد ابوالعلا; born 1964) is a fiction writer, essayist, and playwright of Sudanese origin based in Aberdeen, Scotland. She grew up in Khartoum, Sudan, and moved to Scotland in 1990 where she began ...

Leone Ross Leone Ross (born 26 June 1969, Coventry, England) is a British novelist, short story writer, editor, journalist and academic, who is of Jamaican and Scottish ancestry. Biography Early years and education Leone Ross was born in Coventry, England, ...

Lesley Lokko Lesley Naa Norle Lokko is a Ghanaian-Scottish architect, academic, and novelist.Lesley ...

Linda Bellos Linda Ann Bellos (born 13 December 1950) is a British businesswoman, radical feminist and gay-rights activist. In 1981 she became the first black woman to join the ''Spare Rib'' collective. She was elected to Lambeth Borough Council in London ...

Lisa Allen-Agostini Lisa Allen-Agostini (born 1960s) is a Trinidadian journalist, editor and writer of fiction, poetry and drama. She is also a stand-up comedian, performing as "Just Lisa". Allen-Agostini has been a columnist for the ''Trinidad and Tobago Guardian ...

Lola Shoneyin Lola Shoneyin (born Titilola Atinuke Alexandrah Shoneyin; 26 February 1974 in Ibadan, Nigeria) is a Nigerian poet and author who launched her debut novel, ''The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives'', in the UK in May 2010. Shoneyin has forged a r ...

, Maaza Mengiste, Makhosazana Xaba,

Malika Booker Malika Booker (born 1970)"Malika Booker"
at Forward Arts Foundatione. is a British writer, ...

Malorie Blackman Malorie Blackman is a British writer who held the position of Children's Laureate from 2013 to 2015. She primarily writes literature and television drama for children and young adults. She has used science fiction to explore social and ethica ...

Margo Jefferson Margo Lillian Jefferson (born October 17, 1947) is an American writer and academic. Biography Jefferson received her B.A. from Brandeis University, where she graduated ''cum laude'', and her M.S. from the Columbia University Graduate School of ...

Marie NDiaye Marie NDiaye (born 4 June 1967) is a French novelist, playwright and screenwriter. She published her first novel, ''Quant au riche avenir'', when she was 17. She won the Prix Goncourt in 2009. Her play ''Papa doit manger'' is the sole play by a ...

Marina Salandy-Brown Marina Salandy-Brown FRSA, Hon. FRSL, is a Trinidadian journalist, broadcaster and cultural activist. She was formerly an editor and Senior Manager in Radio and News and Current Affairs programmes with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) ...

Marion Bethel Marion Bethel (born 31 July 1953) is an attorney, poet, essayist, filmmaker, human and gender rights activist, and writer from Nassau, The Bahamas.Maura, Matt"Marion Bethel to Receive 'prestigious Regional Award' for Women" Bahamas Information Se ...

Maxine Beneba Clarke Maxine Beneba Clarke is an Australian writer of Afro-Caribbean descent, whose work includes fiction, non-fiction and poetry. Her collection of short stories ''Foreign Soil'' won the 2013 Victorian Premier's Unpublished Manuscript Award, the 2015 ...

Meta Davis Cumberbatch Meta Davis Cumberbatch Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, MBE (4 May 1900 – 29 December 1978) was a Trinidad and Tobago, Trinidad-born pianist, composer, poet, playwright and cultural activist, who spent the majority of h ...

Mildred Barya Mildred Kiconco Barya is a writer and poet from Uganda. She was awarded the 2008 Pan African Literary Forum Prize for Africana Fiction, and earlier gained recognition for her poetry, particularly her first two collections, ''Men Love Chocolates ...

Minna Salami Minna Salami (born 1978) is a Finnish Nigerian journalist who has propagated information on African feminist issues, about the African diaspora, and Nigerian women through her award-winning blog MsAfropolitan, which she created and has been editin ...

, Monica Arac de Nyeko,

Nadia Davids Nadia Davids (born in Cape Town, 1977) is a South African playwright, novelist, and author of short stories and screenplays. Her work has been published, produced, and performed in Southern Africa, Europe, and the United States. She was a Philip ...

, Nadifa Mohamed,

Nah Dove Nah Dove (born 1940s) is an author, lecturer and scholar in African-American studies. She has lived in Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Canada, the UK, and in the US, where she is an Assistant Professor Instruction in the Department of Africology and ...

Nalo Hopkinson Nalo Hopkinson (born 20 December 1960) is a Jamaican-born Canadian speculative fiction writer and editor. Her novels ('' Brown Girl in the Ring'', '' Midnight Robber'', '' The Salt Roads'', ''The New Moon's Arms'') and short stories such as th ...

Namwali Serpell Carla Namwali Serpell (born 1980) is an American and Zambian writer who teaches in the United States. In April 2014, she was named on Hay Festival's Africa39 list of 39 Sub-Saharan African writers aged under 40 with the potential and talent to de ...

, Nana-Ama Danquah, Nana Asma'u, Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond,

Nana Oforiatta Ayim Nana Oforiatta Ayim is a Ghanaian writer, art historian and filmmaker. Background Nana Ofosuaa Oforiatta Ayim was raised in Germany, England, and her ancestral homeland in Ghana. She studied Russian and Politics at the University of Bristol and ...

Natalia Molebatsi Natalia Molebatsi is a South African writer, poet, performer, editor, and cultural organizer. Biography Natalia Molebatsi was born and raised in the township of Tembisa, near Johannesburg in South Africa.Natasha Trethewey Natasha Trethewey (born April 26, 1966) is an American poet who was appointed United States Poet Laureate in 2012 and again in 2013. She won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry for her 2006 collection ''Native Guard'', and she is a former Poet L ...

Nawal El Saadawi Nawal El Saadawi ( ar, نوال السعداوي, , 22 October 1931 – 21 March 2021) was an Egyptian feminist writer, activist and physician. She wrote many books on the subject of women in Islam, paying particular attention to the practice of ...

Nikky Finney Nikky Finney (born Lynn Carol Finney on August 26, 1957, in Conway, South Carolina) is an American poet. She was the Guy Davenport Endowed Professor of English at the University of Kentucky for twenty years. In 2013, she accepted a position at t ...

Nnedi Okorafor Nnedimma Nkemdili "Nnedi" Okorafor (formerly Okorafor-Mbachu; born April 8, 1974) is a Nigerian-American writer of science fiction and fantasy for both children and adults. She is best known for her ''Binti Series'' and her novels ''Who Fears ...

Noo Saro-Wiwa Noo Saro-Wiwa is a British-Nigerian author, noted for her travel writing. She is the daughter of Nigerian activist Ken Saro-Wiwa. Education Noo Saro-Wiwa was born in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, and grew up in Ewell, Surrey in England. She attended ...

Novuyo Rosa Tshuma Novuyo Rosa Tshuma (born 28 January 1988) is a Zimbabwean writer and professor of creative writing. She is the author of ''Shadows'', a novella and ''House of Stone'', a novel. Biography Tshuma was born and grew up in Bulawayo, a major city in ...

Olúmìdé Pópóọlá Olúmìdé Pópóọlá is a London-based Nigerian-German writer, speaker and performer. Her latest novel ''When We Speak of Nothing'' was published in July 2017, by Cassava Republic Press. Biography and work Pópóọlá was born in Germany to ...

Panashe Chigumadzi Panashe Chigumadzi (born 1991) is a Zimbabwean-born journalist, essayist and novelist, who was raised in South Africa. Background Born in Harare, Zimbabwe, in 1991, Chigumadzi grew up in South Africa. She has published her writing in a variet ...

Patience Agbabi Patience Agbabi Royal Society of Literature, FRSL (born 1965) is a British poet and performer who emphasizes the spoken word.. Although her poetry hits hard in addressing contemporary themes, it often makes use of formal constraints, including t ...

, Patrice Lawrence, Patricia Cumper, Phillippa Yaa de Villiers,

Rachel Eliza Griffiths Rachel Eliza Griffiths, Lady Rushdie (born 1978) is an American poet, novelist, photographer and visual artist, who is the author of five published collections of poems. In ''Seeing the Body'' (2020), she "pairs poetry with photography, exploring ...

Rashidah Ismaili Rashidah Ismaili, also known as Rashidah Ismaili AbuBakr (born 1941),"Rashidah Ismaili"

Rebecca Walker Rebecca Walker (born November 17, 1969, as Rebecca Leventhal) is an American writer, feminist, and activist. Walker has been regarded as one of the prominent voices of Third Wave Feminism, and the coiner of the term "third wave", since publish ...

Reni Eddo-Lodge Reni Eddo-Lodge (born 25 September 1989) is a British journalist and author, whose writing primarily focuses on feminism and exposing structural racism. She has written for a range of publications, including ''The New York Times'', ''The Guar ...

, Rosamond S. King,

Roxane Gay Roxane Gay (born October 15, 1974) is an American writer, professor, editor, and social commentator. Gay is the author of ''The New York Times'' best-selling essay collection '' Bad Feminist'' (2014), as well as the short story collection ''Ayit ...

Sade Adeniran Sade Adeniran (born 1960s) is a Nigerian novelist whose debut novel, ''Imagine This'', won the 2008 Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book in Africa. ''Imagine This'' was originally Self-publishing, self-published by the author. Based in ...

Safia Elhillo Safia Elhillo ( ar, صافية الحلو; born December 16, 1990) is a Sudanese-American poet known for her written and spoken poetry. Elhillo received a BA degree from the Gallatin School at New York University and an MFA in poetry from The Ne ...

Sandra Jackson-Opoku Sandra Jackson-Opoku (born 1953)Karen Boone, Stacie Diedrichsen, and BreAnn Foss"Sandra Jackson-Opoku" Voices from the Gaps, University of Minnesota, December 20, 2006. is an American poet, novelist, screenwriter, and journalist, whose writing ofte ...

Sapphire Sapphire is a precious gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum, consisting of aluminium oxide () with trace amounts of elements such as iron, titanium, chromium, vanadium, or magnesium. The name sapphire is derived via the Latin "sa ...

Sarah Ladipo Manyika Sarah Ladipo Manyika is a British-Nigerian writer of novels, short stories and essays and an active member of the literary community, particularly supporting and amplifying young writers and female voices. She is author of two well received nove ...

Sarah Parker Remond Sarah Parker Remond (June 6, 1826 – December 13, 1894) was an American lecturer, activist and abolitionist campaigner. Born a free woman in the state of Massachusetts, she became an international activist for human rights and women's su ...

Sefi Atta Sefi Atta (born January 1964) is a Nigerian Americans, Nigerian-American novelist, short-story writer, playwright and screenwriter. Her books have been translated into many languages, radio plays have been broadcast by the BBC, and her stage play ...

Simi Bedford Simi Bedford is a Nigerian novelist based in Britain. Her 1991 debut book '' Yoruba Girl Dancing'' (1991), an autobiographical novel about a young Nigerian girl who is sent to England to receive a private school education, was well reviewed on ...

Sisonke Msimang Sisonke Msimang is a South African writer, activist and political analyst based in Perth, Western Australia, whose focus is on race, gender, and politics. She is known for her memoir ''Always Another Country: A memoir of exile and home'' (2017) ...

, Stella Dadzie,

SuAndi SuAndi OBE is a British performance poet, writer and arts curator. Based in North West England, she is particularly acknowledged for raising the profile of black artists in the region as well as nationally. Since 1985 she has been Cultural Dire ...

, Sue Woodford-Hollick, Summer Edward, Susan Kiguli,

Taiye Selasi Taiye Selasi (born 2 November 1979) is a British-American writer and photographer. Of Nigerian and Ghanaian origin, she describes herself as a "local" of Accra, Berlin, New York and Rome. Early life and education Taiye Selasi was born in Lond ...

Tanella Boni Tanella Suzanne Boni (born 1954) is an Ivorian poet and novelist. Also an academic, she is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Abidjan. Apart from her teaching and research activities, she was the President of the association of writers ...

Tess Onwueme Osonye Tess Onwueme, also known as T. Akaeke Onwueme (born 8 September 1955) is a Nigerian playwright, scholar and poet, who rose to prominence writing plays with themes of social justice, culture, and the environment. In 2010, she became the unive ...

Tiphanie Yanique Tiphanie Yanique (born September 20, 1978) from Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, is a Caribbean American fiction writer, poet and essayist who lives in New York. In 2010 the National Book Foundation named her a "5 Under 35" honoree. She also t ...

, Trifonia Melibea Obono,

Valerie Tagwira Valerie Tagwira is a Zimbabwean writer who is a specialist obstetrician-gynecologist by profession.Sara Davies"Literary conversation with Valerie Tagwira" ''Harare News'', 4 June 2014. Her debut novel ''The Uncertainty of Hope'', published in 2006 ...

Verene Shepherd Verene Albertha Shepherd (née Lazarus; born 1951) is a Jamaican academic who is a professor of social history at the University of the West Indies in Mona, Jamaica, Mona. She is the director of the university's Institute for Gender and Developm ...

, Verna Wilkins, Wangui wa Goro,

Wanjiku wa Ngũgĩ Wanjikũ wa Ngũgĩ (born 1970s) is a Kenyan writer, who has lived and worked in Eritrea, Zimbabwe and Finland. She is the founder and former director of the Helsinki African Film Festival (HAFF). Also a political analyst, she is a member of the e ...

Warsan Shire Warsan Shire (born 1 August 1988) is a British writer, poet, editor and teacher, who was born to Somali parents in Kenya. In 2013 she was awarded the inaugural Brunel University African Poetry Prize, chosen from a shortlist of six candidates o ...

Winsome Pinnock Winsome Pinnock FRSL (born 1961) is a British playwright of Jamaican heritage, who is "probably Britain's most well known black female playwright". She was described in ''The Guardian'' as "the godmother of black British playwrights". Life Wins ...

Yaba Badoe Yaba Badoe (born 1955) is a Ghanaian-British documentary filmmaker, journalist and author. Career Yaba Badoe was born in Tamale, northern Ghana. She left Ghana to be educated in Britain at a very young age.Beti Ellerson"A Conversation with Y ...

Yassmin Abdel-Magied Yassmin Abdel-Magied is a Sudanese–Australian media presenter and writer, who had an early career as a mechanical engineer. She was named Young Queenslander of the Year in 2010 and Queensland Australian of the Year in 2015 for her engagement ...

, Yemisi Aribisala,

Yewande Omotoso Yewande Omotoso (born 1980) is a South African-based novelist, architect and designer, who was born in Barbados and grew up in Nigeria. She is the daughter of Nigerian writer Kole Omotoso, and the sister of filmmaker Akin Omotoso. She currently ...

, Yolanda Arroyo Pizarro,

Yrsa Daley-Ward Yrsa Daley-Ward (born 1989) is an English writer, model and actor.Yrsa Daley-Ward

Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor (born 1968) is a Kenyan writer who is the author of novels, short stories and essays. She won the 2003 Caine Prize for African Writing for her story "Weight of Whispers". Education and professional life Born in Nairobi, Ke ...

, Yvonne Bailey-Smith, Yvonne Vera,

Yvvette Edwards Yvvette Edwards FRSL is a British novelist born in London, England, of Caribbean heritage. Her first novel, ''A Cupboard Full of Coats'', was published in 2011 to much acclaim and prize nominations that included the Man Booker Prize longlist an ...

Zadie Smith Zadie Smith FRSL (born Sadie; 25 October 1975) is an English novelist, essayist, and short-story writer. Her debut novel, ''White Teeth'' (2000), immediately became a best-seller and won a number of awards. She has been a tenured professor ...

, Zandria Robinson,

Zena Edwards Zena Edwards (born 1960s) is a British writer, poet, performer and multidisciplinary collaborator, who explores her African roots in work that utilises her musical talents. She has performed internationally at festivals, as well as in schools and ...

Zetta Elliott Zetta Elliott (born October 26, 1972) is a Canadian-American poet, playwright, and author. Her first picture book ''Bird (book), Bird'', won many awards. She has also been recognized for other contributions to children's literature, as well as for ...

Zita Holbourne Zita Holbourne FRSA (born 1960s) is a British community and human rights campaigner and activist, and a multi-disciplinary artist, creating work as a writer, performance poet and visual artist. As a trade unionist, she is National Vice President o ...

, Zoe Adjonyoh,

Zukiswa Wanner Zukiswa Wanner (born 1976) is a South African journalist, novelist and editor born in Zambia and now based in Kenya. Since 2006, when she published her first book, her novels have been shortlisted for awards including the South African Literary ...

, and others.Margaret Busby
"From Ayòbámi Adébáyò to Zadie Smith: meet the New Daughters of Africa"
''The Guardian'', 9 March 2019.Johnna Rocker-Clinton
"New Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Writing by Women of African Descent Margaret Busby does it again!"
''San Francisco Book Review'', August 2019. ''New Daughters of Africa'' was launched in London at the

South Bank Centre Southbank Centre is a complex of artistic venues in London, England, on the South Bank of the River Thames (between Hungerford Bridge and Waterloo Bridge). It comprises three main performance venues (the Royal Festival Hall including the Nat ...

on 9 March 2019 at the WOW Festival, and contributors were subsequently featured at many other festivals and venues in the UK and abroad, including at the Wimbledon BookFest, the

NGC Bocas Lit Fest The NGC Bocas Lit Fest is the Trinidad and Tobago literary festival that takes place annually during the last weekend of April in Port of Spain. Inaugurated in 2011, it is the first major literary festival in the southern Caribbean and largest lit ...

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

, the

Bernie Grant Arts Centre The Bernie Grant Arts Centre (BGAC) is a £15 million purpose-built multi-arts centre, which includes a 274-seat auditorium, studio/rehearsal space, café/bar, enterprise centre and open spaces. It is located next to the Town Hall in Tottenham, ...

, and Somerset House. Editions of the anthology have also been published in the US by Amistad (HarperCollins) and in South Africa by

Jonathan Ball Publishers Media24 is the print media division of the South African media company Naspers. It controls Naspers' newspaper and magazine Southern African publishing and printing activities, including Internet publishing of the 24.com collection of web port ...

Editions

* Margaret Busby (ed.), ''New Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Writing by Women of African Descent''. First edition, UK:

/New Internationalist Publications, 2019. Hardback ); trade paperback ). ** Hamish Hamilton/

Penguin Books Penguin Books is a British publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

'', describing ''New Daughters of Africa'' as a "vast and nuanced collection", notes that it is "arranged in order of the women's birth decades, a chronological reminder that African women have been creating art for many centuries; the youngest included are still in their twenties. ... a necessary wealth of work – a welcome addition to any book shelf and a compulsory education for anyone unaware of the countless gifted African women journalists, essayists, poets and speakers who should influence how we see the world." John Stevenson concluded his review in ''Black History Month'' magazine by saying: "Every Black home should own a copy of the book. The literary voices of Black women need to be heard even more urgently now."

Imani Perry Imani Perry (born September 5, 1972) is an American interdisciplinary scholar of race, law, literature, and African-American culture. She is currently the Hughes-Rogers Professor of African American Studies at Princeton University and a columnis ...

wrote in the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Ni ...

'': "Anthologies can read as mere assortment or collection. But their function, particularly when well composed – as is the case with this book – can be much more deliberate. Busby's choice to organise the writers by generation, rather than region or date of publication, has a powerful effect. From the 18th century to the present, the location of black women across borders – yet always in the winds of political, economic and social orders – emerges. Questions of freedom, autonomy, family, race and social transformation present themselves in generational waves. Thus, with more than 200 contributors, this anthology is also a social and cultural world history." The review by in the Kenyan '' Daily Nation'' said: "It is the kind of literary compendium that many prospective African women writers need to have today.... ''New Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Writing by Women of African Descent'' is a collection that the expert on literature, women studies, gender studies, African history; the feminist reader/scholar; or even the general reader will find refreshing considering the scope of the writing, as well as helpful as a reference source." Paul Burke's review in ''NB'' magazine, rating the anthology 5/5, stated: "This is a beautiful, challenging and triumphant collection of writing that increases our understanding of humanity and entertains royally. ...I'm just bowled over by the quality and breadth of contributions here but also the way they coalesce. The writing is, depending on each author's style, sharp, funny, romantic, confrontational and politically astute. This book has a heart and a sense of purpose and I think it's fair to say it is important and so relevant for our times. Anyone interested in Africa, gender politics, good storytelling and writing that pushes the boundaries of the form will love this book. ...This is a full on sensory experience, a stimulation for the brain and for the heart and some of the writing here stirs the blood and twists the gut. ...The depth of psychological, political, economic and cultural insight here is awe inspiring." It received a five-star review in the ''San Francisco Book Review'', and in the opinion of the reviewer for the ''New York Journal of Books'':

Here is the book so many have been waiting for. The book to make sense of so many others....The topics are just as varied and shine bright lights on the lives of critically underrepresented women of color, and on the contributions of these gifted literary scholars: motherhood, slavery, love, work, immigration, assimilation, friendship, thwarted aspiration, infidelity, racism, marriage, poverty, and on and on. In fact, the only thing that is not varied here is the gloriously even quality of the writing. These are stories for crying and laughing and thinking. They are narratives for understanding, for seeking, for finding, yes, because it is a catalogue of lives that are not shown as much and as consistently as we need them to be. ...It is, perhaps, this bulk, this excess, this non-superfluous surplus, this literal and literary embarrassment of riches that sends the strongest of messages. Yes, there is this much talent and achievement here in the literature of people of color, the roots of these writers in Africa, but their immense contribution extends to every continent. It is this good. It is this great. So, how is it that it continues to be such a low percentage of all that is published, widely distributed, critiqued, discussed, taught, and shared?

Scholarship and awards

Connected with the new anthology, the Margaret Busby ''New Daughters of Africa'' Award was announced by the publisher,

, in partnership with

SOAS, University of London SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury are ...

, that will benefit an African woman student, with accommodation provided by

International Students House, London International Students House, London (colloquially shortened to ISH) is a set of lodgings for international and British students in London. It permanently occupies one large building in streets that faces Park Crescent which in turn across a squ ...

. The launch of the award was made possible by the fact that, as well as Margaret Busby and her publisher donating to the fund from the anthology's earnings, all the contributors waived their fees in support of the cause. The first recipient of the award was announced in July 2020 as Idza Luhumyo from Kenya. Also in 2020, Busby and Myriad teamed with community-interest organization

The Black Curriculum The Black Curriculum is a British community interest company, founded in 2019, whose mission is "to address the lack of Black British history in the UK curriculum". History The organisation was established in 2019 by Lavinya Stennett, who conceiv ...

– founded to address the lack of black British history being taught – to donate 500 copies of ''New Daughters of Africa'' to schools in the UK. In 2021, together with Literandra, a non-profit digital platform focused on literary art forms from the African continent, Myriad donated 200 copies of ''New Daughters of Africa'' to the Ghana-based Library of Africa and the African Diaspora (LOATAD), a Ghana-based library. ''New Daughters of Africa'' was nominated for a 2020 NAACP Image Award in the category of Outstanding Literary Work, alongside books by

Petina Gappah Petina Gappah (born 1971) is a Zimbabwean lawyer and writer. She writes in English, though she also draws on Shona, her first language. In 2016, she was named African Literary Person of the Year by ''Brittle Paper''. In 2017 she had a DAAD Arti ...

Ta-Nehisi Coates Ta-Nehisi Paul Coates ( ; born September 30, 1975) is an American author and journalist. He gained a wide readership during his time as national correspondent at ''The Atlantic'', where he wrote about cultural, social, and political issues, parti ...

Jacqueline Woodson Jacqueline Woodson (born February 12, 1963) is an American writer of books for children and adolescents. She is best known for ''Miracle's Boys'', and her Newbery Honor-winning titles ''Brown Girl Dreaming'', ''After Tupac and D Foster'', ''Feat ...

, and Margaret Wilkerson Sexton, who was the eventual winner for Fiction.

Notes

References

External links

* Margaret Busby
"Granddaughters of Africa"
Commonwealth Writers, 19 March 2015. * Meserette Kentake
"Five Inspirational Poems for Black Women"
''Kentake Page'', 6 March 2016.
"Tales of Travel, Daughters of Africa"
ICA Talks (9 October 1992). British Library.
"New Daughters of Africa – The Podcast"
African Book Festival. {{Authority control 1992 books Black British literature British anthologies Black feminist books Books about Africa Feminism in Africa Feminist books Literature by women African literature Jonathan Ball Publishers books Jonathan Cape books Pantheon Books books

Reception

Contributors

Editions

Influence and legacy

''New Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Writing by Women of African Descent''

Editions

Scholarship and awards

Notes

References

Further reading

External links