Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

ian literature is literature from Cameroon, which includes literature in French, English and indigenous languages.

Overview

Colonial-era writers such as Louis-Marie Pouka and

Sankie Maimo Sankie Maimo (1930 – 4 September 2013) was a writer from British Southern Cameroons. Maimo moved to Ibadan, Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Fed ...

were educated by European missionary societies and advocated assimilation into European culture as the means to bring Cameroon into the modern world. Jean-Louis Njemba Medu was a pioneering writer who published the science fiction novel '' Nnanga Kon'' in the

Bulu language Bulu is a Bantu language of the Bulu people of Cameroon. The language had 174,000 native speakers in 1982, with some 800,000 second language speakers in 1991. Its dialects include Bene, Yelinda, Yembana, Yengono, and Zaman. Bulu was formerly use ...

as early as 1932. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, writers such as

Mongo Beti Alexandre Biyidi Awala (30 June 1932 – 8 October 2001), known as Mongo Beti or Eza Boto, was a Cameroonian writer. Beti spent much of his life in France, studying at the Sorbonne and becoming a professor at Lycée Pierre Corneille. Life ...

and

Ferdinand Oyono Ferdinand Léopold Oyono (14 September 1929 – 10 June 2010
''Jeune ...

analysed and criticised colonialism and rejected assimilation. Other older generation writers include Guillaume Oyônô Mbia,

Mbella Sonne Dipoko Mbella Sonne Dipoko (February 28, 1936 in Douala – December 5, 2009 in Tiko) was a novelist, poet and painter from Cameroon. He is widely considered to be one of the foremost writers of literature in English from Cameroon. Early life Mbell ...

Francis Bebey Francis Bebey (, 15 July 1929 in Douala, Cameroon – 28 May 2001 in Paris, France) was a Cameroonian writer and composer. Early life Francis Bebey was born in Douala, Cameroon, on 15 July 1929. Bebey attended college in Douala, where he studied ...

, René Philombé and kenjo Jumbam. Some critically acclaimed writers include Marcien Towa,

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 ...

Patrice Nganang Alain Patrice Nganang (born 1970) is an American writer, poet and teacher of Cameroonian origin, a member of the Bamileke people. He was born in Yaoundé, Cameroon, and was educated in Cameroon and Germany. He was awarded a Ph.D. in comparative l ...

Calixthe Beyala Calixthe Beyala (born 1961) is a Cameroonian-French writer who writes in French. Biography A Cameroonian author and member of the Eton people, Calixthe Beyala was born in Sa'a to Cameroonian parents. Her aunt and grandmother were particula ...

, Bate Besong,

Gaston-Paul Effa Gaston-Paul Effa (born 1965, Yaoundé) is a writer from Lorraine of Cameroonian origin, also a professor of philosophy. He came to France to attend secondary school at the in Strasbourg, then studied theology and philosophy at the university. ...

Werewere Liking Werewere Liking (born 1950, in Cameroon) is a writer, playwright and performer based in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. She established the Ki-Yi Mbock theatre troupe in 1980 and founded the Ki-Yi village in 1985 for the artistic education of young pe ...

, Ba'bila Mutia,

John Nkemngong Nkengasong John Ngosong Nkemngong Nkengasong (born 1959) is a Cameroonian playwright, novelist, poet and scholar. He is often referred to as a "radical visionary" of Anglophone Cameroon and an “ardent upholder of innovative creativity and crusader for the ...

, Bole Butake, Leonora Miano, Francis B Nyamnjoh and Linus T. Asong. In 2014,

signed a million dollar deal with

Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...

for her debut manuscript. The novel titled '' Behold the Dreamers'' follows the travails of a Cameroonian immigrant and a

Lehman Brothers Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. ( ) was an American global financial services firm founded in 1847. Before Bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, filing for bankruptcy in 2008, Lehman was the fourth-largest investment bank in the United States (behind Gol ...

executive during the 2008 financial crisis.

Literary awards

International and bilingual English-and-French literary prizes,

Grand Prix of Literary Associations The Grand Prix of Literary Associations (GPLA) were launched in 2013 in Cameroon, in partnership with Brasseries du Cameroun and sponsorship by Castel Group, Castel Beer. The GPLA are defined as bilingual English-and-French literary prizes, som ...

(GPLA), were launched in Cameroon in 2013, and are to date the main literary awards in Cameroon. They have already contributed to unveil or confirm many gifted authors, such as Eric Mendi, twice winner in the Belles-Lettres Category, Charles Salé, Fiston Mwanza Mujila, Felwine Sarr, to name a few. The GPLA also pay tribute to deceased authors through the ''Grand prix de la mémoire'', which was awarded to late Cameroonian author

in the last edition (GPLA 2016).Source
Bamendaonline
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Footnotes

References and further reading

* Pierre Fandio, ''La littérature camerounaise dans le champ social : grandeurs, misères et défis'', l'Harmattan, Paris, Budapest, Kinshasa, 2006, 244 p. * Pierre Fandio, ''Les lieux incertains du champ littéraire camerounais : la postcolonie à partir de la marge'', l'Harmattan, Paris, 2012, 273 p. *Shadrack Ambanasom, ''Education of the Deprived: A Study of Four Cameroonian Playwrights''. Yaounde: Yaounde University Press, 2003. *Shadrack Ambanasom, ''The Cameroon Novel of English Expression: An Introduction''. Bamenda; Agwecam, 2007. *Hilarious Ambe, ''Change Aesthetics in Anglophone Cameroon Drama and Theatre''.Bayreuth African Studies 2007. *Joyce B Ashuntantang, ''Landscaping Postcoloniality:The Dissemination of Cameroon Anglophone Literature''. Bamenda; Langaa RPCIG, 2009. *Oscar C Labang, ''ImagiNation:Theorizing the Nation in Postcolonial Anglophone Cameroon Poetry''. Yaounde; Miraclaire Academic Publications, 2012.

External links

Cameroon Literature in English – Vibrant but Invisible
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Overview

Literary awards

See also

Footnotes

References and further reading

External links