The Gods Who Send Us Gifts: An Anthology of African Short Stories is a historic and important anthology featuring some of the most eloquent and gifted voices (both young and old) from Africa, capturing moments of critical cultural shift in celebration of this historic event in 1962.

The anthology features forewords by Wole Soyinka and Baroness Valerie Amos.

The Gods Who Send Us Gifts marks the 55th anniversary of the historic 1962 Makerere Conference of African Literature in Uganda, which brought together post-independence African writers many of whom would go on to play major roles in defining Africa’s literary history.

Those who gathered included Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe, Christopher Okigbo, JP Clark, Kofi Awoonor, Frances Ademola, Cameron Duodu, Lewis Nkosi, Dennis Brutus, Ezekiel Mphahlele, Bloke Modisane and the African American writer Langston Hughes.

55 years on, many have joined the ancestors, but there are a few survivors who attended the launch of this anthology at SOAS in London on 28 October 2017.

• Read ‘A Woman is her Hands’ by Wame Molefhe, from The Gods Who Send Us Gifts

 

Categories Africa Fiction South Africa

Tags Bloke Modisane Cameron Duodu Chinua Achebe Christopher Okigbo Dennis Brutus Ezekiel Mphahlele Frances Ademola JP Clark Kofi Awoonor Langston Hughes Lewis Nkosi The Gods Who Send Us Gifts Valerie Amos Wole Soyinka