West African Literatures in Standard English

Abstract

Nigeria plays in anglophone West Africa just as prominent a role as Senegal does in the francophone zone. Before discussing individual modern authors, it should be noted that a number of gifted men came from that country, even at the time of the slave trade. One of them was Olaudah Equiano (b. 1745), a forefather of the sub-Saharan writers, who re-presented the abolitionist spirit of his period. He came from Iboland, the East Nigerian region that also has given the country the majority of outstanding authors of the present time. At the age of eleven, Olaudah Equiano was transported to America on a slave ship. Later, he went to Britain where he married an English girl and became a Christian. Thanks to his education and literary abilities, he took an active part in abolitionist efforts.