Publisher Description

A glorious portrayal of the richness, range and diversity of African women's voices, this major international collection brings together their achievements across a wealth of genres: autobiography, memoir, letters, short stories, novels, poetry, drama, humour, journalism, essays and speeches.From Antigua to Zimbabwe and Angola to the USA, overlooked artists of the past join key figures, popular contemporaries and emerging writers in paying tribute to the heritage that unites them, the strong links that endure from generation to generation, and their common obstacles around issues of race, gender and class.Bold and insightful, brilliant in its intimacy and universality, this landmark anthology honours the talents of African daughters and the inspiring legacy that connects them-and all of us.

Author Biography

Margaret Busby OBE, Hon. FRSL (Nana Akua Ackon) is a major cultural figure in Britain and around the world.She was born in Ghana and educated in the UK, graduating from London University. She became Britain's youngest and first black woman publisher when she co-founded Allison & Busby in the late 1960s, presiding as editorial director over an international list of notable authors including Buchi Emecheta, Nuruddin Farah, Sam Greenlee, Rosa Guy, Roy Heath, Chester Himes, C. L. R. James, George Lamming, Michael Moorcock, Adrian Mitchell, Jill Murphy, Ishmael Reed, Michele Roberts, John Edgar Wideman and Val Wilmer.A writer, editor, broadcaster and literary critic, she has also written drama for BBC radio and the stage. Her radio abridgements and dramatisations encompass work by Henry Louis Gates, Timothy Mo, Walter Mosley, Jean Rhys, Sam Selvon and Wole Soyinka. She has interviewed high-profile writers (among them Toni Morrison and Ngu~gi~ wa Thiong'o), judged prestigious literary prizes including the Booker Prize, and served on the boards of such organisations as the Royal Literary Fund, Wasafiri magazine, Tomorrow's Warriors, and the Africa Centre in London.A long-time campaigner for diversity in publishing, she is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and recipient of several honorary doctorates and awards, including the Bocas Henry Swanzy Award, the Royal Society of Literature's Benson Medal, and the Royal African Society's inaugural Africa Writes Lifetime Achievement Award.The Margaret Busby New Daughters of Africa Award was launched in 2020 by Myriad Editions and SOAS to recognize the publication of New Daughters of Africa and honour Margaret's work within the literary world. The award enables one student with an interest in African literature to study at the University each year, covering all fees.

Review

'The collection... offers fascinating insights into the present. Busby opens the door wide and allows her readers to witness the conversations that have occurred between black women writers, conversations about culture, love, inheritance and more, without mediation from the powerful institutions of publishing and academia. The effect is marvellous.' – Financial Times. 'What an honour to have my writing sit inside this beautiful tome and testament to women of the diaspora.' – Zoe Adojonyoh. 'I am moved by the few pages I've read. I'm proud to be an African woman and I am reminded that our mothers in their own ways have been fighting for their rights! ' – Azeeza, The Zyzah. 'This remarkable book constitutes a powerful affirmation of literary achievement, demonstrating that contemporary black women writers are part of a vital and extensive tradition. New Daughters of Africa demonstrates that this work does not exist in a vacuum. Black women writers have always had something significant to say to the world and to each other.' – Ladee Hubbard, Times Literary Supplement. 'Bringing together fiction, poetry, memoir and essays, both books are an incredible introduction to black women's writing from around the world, and feature every established name you can imagine, as well those who deserve to be better known.' – Bernardine Evaristo, The Guardian 'Books to help you escape lockdown'. 'Here is the book so many have been waiting for. The book to make sense of so many others.' – New York Journal of Books. 'New Daughters of Africa is not just a book. It is the most complete anthology of the writings of African and Afrodescending writers and poets.' – Esperance Hakuzwimana Ripanti. 'New Daughters of Africa is a beautiful, essential anthology. It is both long-awaited and urgently needed. it recognises the individual voices and interwoven histories of every facet of womanhood. More than a work of political activism, more than a living archive, more than entertainment, it is a testimony to the shifting nuances of having African origins, and forms a conversation about a future that encompasses all of us. It belongs in every library, on every school and university curriculum and home bookshelf, and is a true celebration of the collective power of women's words.' – Preti Taneja. 'New Daughters of Africa has introduced me to an enormously compelling body of works and writers... I found myself immediately engrossed in each woman's 'story'...they each have something profound to say and many pieces, albeit fragments of a larger piece, are also immensely moving. Each extract serves as an enticement to look further into many of the writers' lives and works. One can ask for little more from an anthology so spilling over with such a wealth of history, hope, wisdom and talent.' – Anne Maxwell, Sydney Morning Herald. 'Totally covetable... It's organised in a really interesting way, with links between mothers and daughters, and so much else besides. It is hugely diverse in the genres it represents. This is an essential book.' – Claire Armitstead, The Guardian. 'An international treasure... New Daughters of Africa is not only for people of African descent. it is for everyone... This work was assembled for a time such as this, and it will echo the unified voice of women of African descent for generations to come.' – 5/5 star review by Johnna Rocker – Clinton, San Francisco Book Review. 'Edited by literary supernova Margaret Busby this new book is an immense work showcasing the continent and her voices, best savoured slowly. With sly humour, piercing knowingness, lush descriptions and rousing calls to action, this multitude of women from Antigua to Zimbabwe to the US demonstrates the deep-seated heritage that unites them.' – Wanted Online. 'Featuring Aminatta Forna, Zadie Smith, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Andrea Levy and more, this book will be a cause for celebration and ought to be a textbook for years to come.' – Lit Hub. '... Possibly the most important anthology published in 2019, featuring some of the most incisive and visionary writing I've read in a long time. I can't think of anything else I've read this year that matches this for its scope and beauty.' – Anthony Joseph, Wasafiri magazine. 'This remarkable book constitutes a powerful affirmation of literary achievement, demonstrating that contemporary black women writers are part of a vital and extensive tradition. Just as significantly, the anthology brings these works into dialogue with one another, becoming a potent assertion of a collective identity that transcends political, religious, linguistic, regional and generational boundaries... The book's structure also helps the reader to discern subtle shifts in the way certain themes are represented over time... New Daughters of Africa demonstrates that this work does not exist in a vacuum. Black women writers have always had something significant to say to the world and to each other.' – Times Literary Supplement. 'A great literary assembly put together for the purpose of reconstructing perceptions about Africa and her women, celebrating African women in literature and showcasing the dazzling range of their work.' – Olatoun Gabi-Williams, Guardian Arts Nigeria. 'A vast and nuanced collection. Sometimes you need an anthology to remind you of the variety, strength and nuance of writing among a certain region or group of people. New Daughters of Africa is indispensable because African voices have been silenced or diminished throughout history, and women's voices even more so.' – Sally Hayden, The Irish Times. 'Every Black home should own a copy of the book. The literary voices of Black women need to be heard even more urgently now.' – John Stevenson, Black History 365. 'This anthology inspires a great sense of pride in discovering the enormous number of black women writers and their rich body of literary works going back over a century.' – Kari Mutu, The East African. 'It has been a long time since a book created the kind of buzz and excitement which has surrounded New Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Writing by Women of African Descent. Reserve a special place for this one on your bookshelf, it's a must-have.' – Best African Books of 2019 by Samira Sawlani, African Arguments. 'Busby's effort to illuminate the quote 'silent, forgotten, underrated voices of black women' is a truly remarkable one and I am so thankful to have the opportunity to read this book!' – The Artisan Geek. 'Here is the book so many have been waiting for. The book to make sense of so many others.' – Anjanette Delgado, New York Journal of Books. 'With more than 200 black women writers in its 700 eventful pages, this inspiring collection punches above its very considerable weight. The result is great diversity within a supposed minority, a resounding statement of the infinitely rich life experience of the 'sisters' drawn from Africa and the Diaspora.' – Echoes Magazine. 'Jarrett – Macauley notes that Busby has turned "reading English into something global, explosive and urgent." This is the joy and richness a reader will discover in this book: explosiveness, urgency, and a fantastic global literary encounter.' – Professor Selwyn Cudjoe for Trinidad Daily Express. 'I'm just bowled over by the quality and breadth of contributions here but also the way they coalesce. This book has a heart and a sense of purpose and I think it's fair to say it is important and so relevant for our times. Anyone interested in Africa, gender politics, good storytelling and writing that pushes the boundaries of the form will love this book.' – NB Literary Magazine. 'New Daughters of Africa is a must-read for aspiring young women writers... Margaret Busby enlivens the literary archive of African women writing and reminds readers and critics of the significance of memory.' – Tom Odhiambo, Daily Nation. 'New Daughters of Africa illuminates the richness and cultural history of this original continent and its enduring influence while reflecting our own lives and issues today. Bold and insightful, brilliant in its intimacy and universality, this essential volume honours the talents of African daughters and the inspiring legacy that connects them-and all of us.' – New Beacon Books. 'This really is a stunning volume, in every sense of the word!' – Waterstones Kingston. 'Stunning epigraph in New Daughters of Africa, setting the tone for the treasure that is this book. Love it.' – Spines and Titles, Bookstagrammer. 'The works in this anthology illustrate the courage of black women writers writing freely, amongst other things, about the pain and beauty of the black experience.' – Sarah Ladipo Manyika, Fable Folio. 'New Daughters if Africa is going to be my new personal reading project. Will be reading this one until I finish it. This anthology edited by Margaret Busby goes from Pre-1900 to 1990s. Covering the work of over 200 women of African descent, I'm ready to learn loads. This anthology will get its own personal book journal for notes.' – Read Soul Lit, Bookstagrammer. 'This isn't a cover-to-cover read. It is one to dip into, to savour, to live with and breathe in. I'm looking forward to walking the vital and necessary paths of New Daughters of Africa.' – Farzana Writes. 'This varied and necessary anthology brings together stories, essays, poems and reportage from women writers from across the African diaspora. The book's strength is that it is organized chronologically giving you the sense of generations of women handing on wisdom and experience to build an unbroken chain that starts with Nana Asma'u born in 1793 and ends in the present day with Chibundu Onuzo born in 1995.' – Daunt Books. 'Wanner's short story is a feminist story that packs a punch. What makes this story so compelling, is not just Zukiswa Wanner's creative flair and prosaic flow, but also the fact that it contributes a unique angle to the overall discourse about body image – an angle, which not only exposes the impact of fraught race relations on gender issues, but also the overlooking of Black African women's bodies in global discourses.' – Literandra on This is Not Au Revoir a short story by Zukiswa Wanner from New Daughters of Africa. 'This book feels like home.' – Sofia Akel, Free Books Campaign. 'This is an exceptional anthology to savour - a uniquely nourishing banquet for mind and heart. Busby hopes in her introduction, "may all who find their way to this anthology, regardless of gender, class or race, feast well on its banquet of words." And I defy any reader not to do just that.' – Joanne Owen, LoveReading. 'It's quite unfair to give this anthropology a review. With brilliant stories that date from 1793 - 1990, how could one really put it all into words? I can say that each story uplifts a strong sense of sisterhood. This powHERful book of essays, diary entries, poems, speeches, and novels is very dense... 1,000 pages. This isn't a book you can read in one sitting. It's an anthropology that you take your time with. Use it for research (personally, I love to do research). Learn with it. Grow with it. Highlight it. Absorb it. Take notes with it. Add anecdotes. Dive in, grow, and enjoy.' – Our Library, Bookstagram. 'New Daughters of Africa is a must-read for aspiring young women writers… Margaret Busby enlivens the literary archive of African women writing and reminds readers and critics of the significance of memory.' – Imani Perry, Financial Times.

Promotional

Reviews in the Financial Times, Guardian, Irish Times, TLS, Wasafiri, Independent, New York, Red Magazine, Sydney Morning Herald, The Voice and many others. LoveReading: Books of the Year.

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