Afro-Asian Writers' Bureau

The Afro-Asian Writers' Bureau (AAWB), also known as the Afro-Asian Writers Association, and the Permanent Bureau of Afro-Asian Writers, was a transcultural, intellectual, and political organization that sought to challenge Eurocentric narratives by fostering solidarity among writers from formerly colonized nations. The AAWB emerged from the Bandung Conference in 1955. Influenced by Maoism and global socialist movements, such as the Soviets and Nasserism, the organization's members aimed to be actors of cultural decolonisation. In 2019, the AAWB would be revived as the Writers’ Union of Africa, Asia, and Latin American.

Decolonisation during the Cold War era sparked a rise in literary writing committed to anticolonial politics. From 1957 to the late 20th century, the AAWB served as a forum for transnational solidarity among anticolonial writers, resisting the uneven political and economic structures of the existing world through artistic collaboration. With prominent members like Mao Dun, Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Kofi Awoonor, Nazim Hikmet, Yusuf Sibai, Efua Sutherland, W.E.B. Du Bois, Zhou Yang, and Ratne Deshapriya Senanayake, the AAWB played a pivotal role in promoting literary and political exchange among decolonizing nations.

However, the AAWB was not completely unified. Both the Soviet Union and China competed for control of the AAWB as a tool for cultural diplomacy, a strategy which China continues to build on in the twenty-first century. Despite these conflicts, the AAWB saw transnational collaboration on major conferences and international recognition for publications such as ''Lotus'', ''The Call'', and the ''Afro-Asian Poetry Anthology'' series. The AAWB provided a platform for cultural exchange, anti-colonial discourse, and the redefinition of modernity from an Afro-Asian perspective.

History

Formation

The Afro-Asian Writers’ Bureau (AAWB) emerged from the broader Afro-Asian solidarity movement at the Bandung Conference in April 1955, which promoted decolonization, nonalignment, and cultural cooperation. The formal establishment of the AAWB occurred at the 1957 Afro-Asian People's Solidarity Organization Conference in Cairo, attended by over 500 delegates from 48 nations. The AAWB served as their Soviet-funded cultural arm, aiming to unite newly independent nations in their struggle against imperialism The AAWB's First Afro-Asian Writers’ Conference in 1958, held in Tashkent, Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic, brought together notable intellectuals from Africa and Asia such as Nikita Khrushchev, Mário de Andrade, W.E.B. Du Bois, Mao Dun, Ba Jin, and Zhou Yang to discuss strategies for cultural and political resistance against colonial and neo-colonial influences through literature. After the Chinese takeover of the AAWB in 1966, the Soviet branch split off to form the Permanent Bureau of Afro Asian Writers. This new Soviet Bureau, initially led by Youssef El Sebai, operated into the 1990s.

Milestones

In February 1962, the second Afro-Asian Writers’ Conference was held in Cairo, Egypt. This conference launched ''The Call'', a journal which was published until 1974: a closure that also signalled the end of the AAWB. ''The Call'' used translation as a tool of cultural decolonization, translating literature for Afro-Asian audiences to oppose the promotion of Western colonial and imperial interests. The AAWB's influence on existing journals was also evident during this time. At the 1962 Afro-Asian Writers' Conference, Chinese writer Mao Dun highlighted the transformation of the ''World Literature'' journal, which had moved away from Soviet influence to focus primarily on Afro-Asian writers, positioning China as a new literary and ideological leader instead of the USSR.

During the Sino-Soviet Split, China used the AAWB as a platform for Chinese cultural diplomacy, increasingly distancing itself from Soviet influence. With the onset of the 1966 Cultural Revolution, China fully abandoned Soviet ties within the AAWB. In July 1966, China convened an Emergency Meeting in Beijing to relocate the AAWB's Executive Secretariat from Colombo to Beijing, bringing the organization under Chinese control, as well as establishing the Afro-Asian Writers' Sanatorium in Beijing. While AAWB activities continued, its ideological orientation now aligned with China rather than the USSR. The AAWB headquarters remained in Sri Lanka. Secretary-General R.D. Senanayake kept his position and pledged allegiance to the Beijing-led Afro-Asian Writers’ Bureau.

In 1967, the AAWB officially condemned the USSR, referring to it as the “Trojan horse of US imperialism.” That same year, Secretary-General R.D. Senanayake, alongside a Chinese delegate, led a Goodwill Delegation of the Bureau across 12 countries in Africa and the Middle East to promote the AAWB's new pro-China ideological stance. This tour, which included visits to Tanzania, Mali, Sierra Leone, Congo-Brazzaville, and Syria, mirrored Zhou Enlai's 1964 Bandung-inspired Goodwill Tour and focused on strengthening alliances within China's sphere of influence.

This internal division led to the formation of two separate entities: the Cairo-based Permanent Bureau of Afro-Asian Writers and the Beijing-based Afro-Asian Writers’ Bureau, with the latter declining over the course of China's Cultural Revolution. This division reflected the broader geopolitical tensions of the Cold War era, particularly between pro-Soviet and pro-Chinese factions within the Afro-Asian solidarity movement.

One of the most significant achievements of the AAWB was the establishment of the journal ''Afro-Asian Writings'', later renamed ''Lotus'', in 1968. This became the primary publication for Afro-Asian literary and political discourse. The magazine provided a space for anti-colonial thinkers, poets, and novelists to exchange ideas and promote a literature of resistance.

Publications

The AAWB facilitated platforms for and artifacts displays of Afro-Asian cultures, such as conferences, publications, historical records, and new school curriculums to amplify the voices of emerging writers from Afro-Asian nations. These initiatives helped sustain a literary network that resisted colonial and neo-colonial narratives, promoting indigenous and revolutionary perspectives in global literature. Through these awards and publications, the AAWB played a crucial role in shaping Afro-Asian literary solidarity, challenging Western literary dominance, and fostering cross-continental dialogue on anti-colonial resistance.

The establishment of the AAWB's publications was closely tied to Cold War cultural battles, particularly in competition with the CIA funded Congress for Cultural Freedom's (CCF) '' Hiwār'' magazine, which launched in 1962. The CCF aimed to establish Cairo as a cultural and political capital of the Arab world, using ''Hiwār'' to promote American soft power. However, ''Hiwār'' was banned from Cairo's kiosks in 1966 and ceased publication in 1967. While ''Hiwār'' and other CCF-affiliated publications like ''Black Orpheus'' (Nigeria) and ''Transition'' (East Africa) had sought to engage with postcolonial literary debates, their CIA backing undermined their credibility. After the CCF was exposed as a covert CIA operation, the AAWB seized the opportunity to advance its own cultural agenda, using literature as a political tool and filling the cultural vacuum left by ''Hiwār''’s closure.

''Lotus''

''The Lotus Magazine'' was published by the Cairo-based Permanent Bureau of Afro-Asian Writers after China took control of AAWB in 1966 and operated into the 1990s. Initially titled ''Lotus: Afro-Asian Writings'', and later referred to as simply ''Lotus'', this was a key cultural magazine that served as the official literacy organ of the Afro-Asian People's Solidarity Organisation (AAPSO). As the most influential publication associated with the AAWB, it served as a vital platform for cultural exchange and anti-colonial thought.

''Lotus'' not only played a crucial role in shaping postcolonial literary discourse by providing a space for writers from Africa and Asia to articulate their visions of modernity, but also acted “as an organizational body” that circulated the vernaculars and “progressive literary forces” of the two continents. The pages of ''Lotus'' includes names such as Chinua Achebe, Mahmoud Darwish, and Antonio Jacinto, major writers of the decolonized and decolonizing world's literature who have become synonyms for writing that is both “engaged and engaging”. Although ''Lotus'' published a variety of literary forms, such as essays, poetry, fiction, and critical analyses, they all shared a common characteristic: challenging Western literary hegemony and celebrating the cultural heritage of formerly colonized societies. The magazine provided an alternative to Western literary dominance, elevating voices that were often overlooked.

The Lotus Prize for Literature was the most prestigious award associated with the AAWB. Established to recognize outstanding contributions to anti-colonial and postcolonial literature, the prize elevated the profiles of authors who were often marginalized by Western literary institutions. Recipients of the prize included writers from across Asia and Africa whose works reflected the political and cultural aspirations of the Global South. It was revived in 2019 by the AAWB's successor organization: the Writers’ Union of Africa, Asia, and Latin American.

''The Call''

''The Call'' was a multilingual journal published by the AAWB in English, French, and Arabic after the 1962 Cairo Conference. The first issue covered key resolutions, recommendations, and declarations from the conference. After the 1966 Emergency Meeting, ''The Call'' increasingly reflected Maoist thought and the Sino-Soviet split, serving as a tool of Chinese cultural diplomacy within the Afro-Asian literary movement. Post-1966 editions continued to explicitly promote Maoist ideological frameworks, reflecting the shifting political alignments within the bureau. The journal remained in circulation for over a decade before its final issue in 1974.

''Afro-Asian Poetry Anthology''

The ''Afro-Asian Poetry Anthology'' series began publication in 1963 and became a cornerstone of the AAWB's mission to foster a distinct third-world literature. The anthologies platformed works excluded from Western literary collections due to their strong anti-colonial and revolutionary themes. For instance, the first and second volumes of Afro-Asian Poetry Anthology in 1963 and 1965 featured Ghanaian poet Kofi Awoonor's “The Black Eagle Awakens,” which reinforced militant, nationalist and anti-imperialist themes in literature through depiction of African history of slavery, resistance, and revolution. It celebrates pan-African unity and anti-colonial struggles and reflects the Maoist notion of literature as a mobilizing force. The 1963 edition also featured both Patrice Lumumba’s Weep, O Beloved Black Brother and lesser-known Chinese poet Han Beiping's Drums at Night, drawing further attention to the ideological and rhetorical parallels between African and Chinese revolutionary struggles. Together with China's vocal protests over Lumumba's assassination, this underscored China's strategic positioning as a decolonial leader within Asia-Africa-Latin America (Yafeila, 亚非拉) anti-imperialist discourse. The AAWB further reinforced its ideological alignment with China through the 1968 publication of ''Indonesian People Take Mao Tse-tung's Road'', an anthology of pro-PRC poems written by Indonesian writers published on the 25th anniversary of Mao's ''Talks at the Yenan Forum on Literature and Art''.

Notable members

The AAWB included prominent writers, poets, and intellectuals who played instrumental roles in shaping the organization's literary vision and political stance. Among its most influential members were:

* Mao Dun (China) – A leading figure in Chinese literature, Mao Dun promoted Maoist cultural policies and the idea that literature should serve revolutionary causes. He was a key speaker at the 1958 Tashkent conference, where he emphasized the role of art in fostering worker and peasant consciousness.
* Faiz Ahmad Faiz (Pakistan) – A renowned poet and editor-in-chief of Lotus magazine from 1979 to 1982, Faiz combined lyrical beauty with themes of anti-colonial resistance. His editorial leadership helped shape Lotus into a major platform for Afro-Asian literary solidarity.
* Kofi Awoonor (Ghana) – A poet and literary scholar, Awoonor's work, such as "The Black Eagle Awakens," was deeply influenced by pan-Africanist and revolutionary themes. His writing reflected the militant spirit of the Bureau and its commitment to decolonization.
* Nazim Hikmet (Turkey) – A prominent Turkish poet, Hikmet was actively involved in AAWB conferences in Tashkent, Cairo, Havana, and Dar es Salaam. His poetry and speeches framed Afro-Asian solidarity within a broader anti-imperialist struggle, and after he died in 1963, he was recognized in Présence Africaine as one of the leading poets of decolonization.
* Yusuf Sibai (Egypt) – A key administrator of the AAWB, Sibai played a significant role in organizing Afro-Asian literary conferences and directing the activities of Lotus magazine. He served as editor-in-chief of ''Lotus'' from 1968 to 1978.
* Efua Sutherland (Ghana) – A playwright and literary activist, Sutherland contributed to discussions on the development of Ghanaian literature and its role in postcolonial cultural identity.
* W.E.B. Du Bois (United States) – Although best known for his contributions to African-American intellectual thought, Du Bois engaged with the AAWB, delivering speeches that linked the struggles of African nations with those of the African diaspora.
* Zhou Yang (China) – A literary theorist and leader of the 1958 Chinese delegation to Tashkent, Zhou Yang emphasized the importance of developing a “national culture” (minzu wenhua, 民族文化), which would allow Afro-Asian nations to cultivate independent cultural identities free from colonial or imperial influence. His speech at the 1958 Tashkent Conference reinterpreted Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's 1827 conversation with Eckermann, arguing that the new world literature for the decolonizing world comes from allowing national works of literature to intermingle rather than abandoning them altogether. Zhou also supported Soviet-style socialist realism, though China developed a nationalist form of this literary style centered on Mao Zedong's writings.
* Ratne Deshapriya Senanayake (Sri Lanka) – A journalist, politician, and Secretary General of the AAWB, Senanayake played a critical role in the Bureau's literary diplomacy, fostering Afro-Asian solidarity through political and cultural exchanges.
* Ziad Abel Fattah (Palestine) – A Palestinian author who served as editor-in-chief of ''Lotus'' from 1983 to the 1990s.
The AAWB functioned as a vital literary and political platform, fostering intellectual exchange between leading voices of the decolonizing world. Its members not only shaped literary traditions but also contributed to the broader geopolitical discourse of the Cold War era, advocating for solidarity among the marginalized nations of the Global South.

Affiliations and collaborations

The Afro-Asian Writers’ Bureau (AAWB) was deeply connected to global anti-colonial and leftist movements, aligning itself with revolutionary movements to promote cultural and political solidarity and ensure that Afro-Asian voices were represented in global discussions on decolonization and cultural autonomy. It maintained strong ties with the Afro-Asian People's Solidarity Organization (AAPSO), aligning itself with broader struggles for decolonization and cultural autonomy. The AAWB also worked closely with the Soviet Union and China, which provided both political and financial support. However, the Bureau's collaborations were shaped by Cold War dynamics. While some members aligned with Soviet socialist ideals, others were more influenced by Maoist or Pan-Africanist perspectives. These ideological tensions led to internal conflicts, as seen in the 1966 split between the Cairo and Beijing factions.

The AAWB's literary style was influenced by Soviet efforts such as Maxim Gorky's 1918 World Literature Publishing House. Part of the Soviet world literature program, the World Literature Publishing House mainly translated the work of Euro-American writers but aimed to include writers of the Global South. The First All-Union Soviet Writers’ Congress in 1934 built on the work of writers like Gorky to establish guidelines for Soviet-style socialist realism as a literary genre, which remained influential in the AAWB until the early 1960s. In 1960, Chinese members of the AAWB began departing from Soviet-style socialist realism, with China's World Literature journal (世界文学, Shijie Wenxue) switching from publishing primarily Soviet and Eastern European writers to publishing Chinese translations of mainly African, Asian, and some Western anticolonial writers. This change in direction was reflected in the work published by the AAWB and alluded to by Chinese delegates at its conferences and meetings.

Beyond Soviet and Chinese influences, the AAWB also had strong ties to Pan-Africanist and Pan-Asian movements, collaborating with figures like Patrice Lumumba, Léopold Sédar Senghor, and Nazim Hikmet to foster South-South cultural alliances. Under such collective cooperation, the Bureau's reach extended beyond national and continental borders. In particular, Turkish poet Nazim Hikmet's work aligned African and Asian struggles for self-determination which played a significant role in the highly politicized world-literary and modernist movements of the time. The solidarities embodied in Hikmet's poetry demonstrate how South-South cultural exchange can generate a new canon for world literature. The unification of these affiliations and movements collectively reinforced AAWB's role as a key player in global decolonization efforts.

Legacy and impact

The Afro-Asian Writers’ Bureau played a foundational role in the cultural decolonization of Afro-Asian societies by providing a platform for non-Western writers. AAWB writers built a new literary canon that challenged Eurocentric traditions, influencing and participating in political movements for self-determination across Africa and Asia. The AAWB's focus on South-South connections helped build Afro-Asian solidarity and shape the broader discourse on postcolonial literature. For example, AAWB-sponsored translation projects between Asian and African languages contributed to the rise of socialist realism and combat literature, particularly in African national literature.

Departing from the Soviet model, the AAWB also introduced “symbolic Maoism,” influencing African and Asian revolutionary writers who identified with the application of class struggle to agrarian societies. In 2019, the defunct AAWB was relaunched as the Writers’ Union of Africa, Asia, and Latin American, reviving its original goal of cultural decolonization and recognition of the Global South. The eventual takeover of the AAWB by China in 1966 also informs later Chinese foreign policy. China continues to employ the ''Yafeila'' strategy, expanding its influence in Asia, Africa, and Latin America through initiatives like Deng Xiaoping's promotion of Mao's “Three Worlds Theory” at the United Nations in 1974 and Xi Jinping's Belt and Road Initiative.

The AAWB was revived as the Writers’ Union of Africa, Asia, and Latin American (WUAALA) in November 2019, alongside the relaunching of the Lotus Prize for Literature.Fatima 2022, p. 448.

See also

* Afro-Asian People's Solidarity Organisation (AAPSO)
* Bandung Conference
* Lotus (magazine)
* Lotus Prize for Literature

Further reading

* Abou-El-Fadl, Reem. “Building Egypt's Afro-Asian Hub: Infrastructures of Solidarity and the 1957 Cairo Conference.” Journal of World History 30, no. 1–2 (June 2019): 157–92. https://doi.org/10.1353/jwh.2019.0016.
* McCann, Gerard. “Where Was the Afro in Afro-Asian Solidarity? Africa's ‘Bandung Moment’ in 1950s Asia.” Journal of World History 30, no. 1–2 (2019): 89–124. https://doi.org/10.1353/jwh.2019.0014.
* Yoon, Duncan M. “Cold War Africa and China: The Afro-Asian Writers’ Bureau and the Rise of Postcolonial Literature.” Cold War Africa and China: The Afro-Asian Writers’ Bureau and the Rise of Postcolonial Literature. Thesis, University of California, Los Angeles, 2014.

Notes

{{reflist, 20em

Bibliography

* Fatima, Maryam. “Institutionalizing Afro-Asianism: ''Lotus'' and the (Dis)Contents of Soviet-Third World Cultural Politics.” ''Comparative Literature Studies'' 59, no. 3 (August 2022): 447–67. https://doi.org/10.5325/complitstudies.59.3.0447.
* Han, Gül Bilge. “Nazım Hikmet's Afro-Asian Solidarities.” ''Safundi'' 19, no. 3 (July 2018): 284–305. https://doi.org/10.1080/17533171.2018.1470814.
* Holt, Elizabeth M. “Cairo and the Cultural Cold War for Afro-Asia.” In ''The Routledge Handbook of the Global Sixties'', edited by Jian Chen, Martin Klimke, Masha Kirasirova, Mary Nolan, Marilyn Young, and Joanna Waley-Cohen. 1st ed., 480–493. Routledge, 2018.
* Nabolsy, Zeyad el. “Lotus and the Self-Representation of Afro-Asian Writers as the Vanguard of Modernity.” ''Interventions'' 23, no. 4 (May 2021): 596–620.
* Vanhove, Pieter. “China and the Restaging of Afro-Asian World Literature.” In ''World Literature after Empire : Rethinking Universality in the Long Cold War''. 1st ed., 27–50. Routledge, 2022.
* Vanhove, Pieter. “‘A World to Win’: China, the Afro-Asian Writers’ Bureau, and the Reinvention of World Literature.” ''Critical Asian Studies'' 51, no. 2 (April 2019): 144–65. https://doi.org/10.1080/14672715.2018.1544499.
* Yoon, Duncan M. “‘Our Forces Have Redoubled’: World Literature, Postcolonialism, and the Afro-Asian Writers’ Bureau.” ''Cambridge Journal of Postcolonial Literary Inquiry'' 2, no. 2 (May 14, 2015): 233–52. https://doi.org/10.1017/pli.2015.11

Wikipedia Student Program
Organizations established in 1957
Organizations disestablished in the 1990s
Political organizations