African Studies Portal - UW-Madison Libraries : Literature

A collection of over 300 full-text major African literary titles of fiction, poetry, drama and non-fictional prose. For over 40 years, Heinemann's African Writers Series published the key texts of modern African literature. It has a unique importance in the history of postcolonial writing. It includes works by Chinua Achebe, Ama Ata Aidoo, Steve Biko, Buchi Emecheta, Nadine Gordimer, Bessie Head, Doris Lessing, Nelson Mandela, Dambudzo Marechera, Christopher Okigbo, Okot p'Bitek and Tayeb Salih and other well-known and not-so-well-known authors. Each work is fully seachable for textual analysis. The collection also provides a full gallery of book covers. A wide geographic range is also represented: most of the works come from English-speaking countries in Western, Southern, and Eastern Africa, but there are also a number of volumes translated from French (from Cameroon and Cote d'Ivoire) or Portuguese (from Mozambique).

The Modern Language Association International Bibliography indexes 4,000 periodicals in English and other languages as well as books, book chapters, and dissertations. Its subject matter includes critical works on literature, language, linguistics, film, and folklore. Though reviews of individual literary and scholarly works are not included, broader review essays ARE included. Many articles listed have no abstracts. Approximately 50,000 citations from journals in JSTOR's Language and Literature collection are also included, providing access back to the 1880s for those titles. (Updated 10 times per year)

The Literary Map of Africa is a bio-bibliographical database, designed to be a comprehensive research and information tool on African literature. It does not focus on selected authors or national / regional litteratures, nor does it follow the sometimes rigid North & sub-Saharan Africa divide; instead, the database seeks to cover the whole continent. This wider scope makes it possible for writers from different regions and countries, with varied histories and cultures, and who produce works in diverse African and European languages to be represented in one project. One objective this project hopes to fulfill is to include as many emerging writers as possible, especially those based in Africa. Many in this category of creative writers do not have a readership beyond their national boundaries and are therefore hardly represented in many bibliographies and encyclopedias.

This site proposes an overview of works by female African authors writing in French and others closely associated with Sub-Saharan Africa. It provides an opportunity to find out more about the authors' life and interests and to get acquainted with their novels, short stories, plays and poetry.

Île en île contient une riche documentation littéraire, présentant des centaines d'auteurs francophones des îles et de leur diaspora avec des dossiers approfondis : photos, biographies, bibliographies, entretiens et extraits de textes, souvent lus.

JSTOR is a full-text journal database which provides access to more than 1,200 titles in the fields of African-American studies, anthropology, architecture, Asian studies, biological sciences, botany, ecology, economics, education, film, finance, folklore, history, language, literature, mathematics, middle east studies, music, philosophy, political science, population/demography, religion, sociology, and statistics. Coverage begins with volume one of each title and continues to within 3 to 5 years of the most current issue, depending on the title. The "moving wall" represents the time period between the last issue available in JSTOR and the most recently published issue of a journal; it is specified by publishers in their license agreements with JSTOR. Graphs, photographs, and other images are included. UW-Madison Libraries have acquired the following JSTOR collections: Arts & Sciences I-XIV; Biological Sciences; Business; Ecology & Botany I-II; Health & General Sciences; Ireland; Language & Literature; Music. (Updated irregularly)