COLIN DIYEN (Cameroon)

One of the beauties of African literature is that all the countries have a number of talented writers who produce tantalising works on a regular basis. Colin Diyen for one is a talented writer from Cameroon who has published many works.   

His works generally attest to his versatility and fecund bent. In The Earth, Mungongon and the dwarf revolt, the author re-creates an alternative, bustling world with King Awobua an intriguing personality. 

On the other hand, in a work like Husband Consultant, Monsieur Diyen rather dishes out amusing, pensive reflections touching on male-female relationships, and idiosyncracies.   

Colin Diyen studied in Moscow at the Patrice Lumumba People's University, sequel to attending St Joseph College Sasse (Buea) and CCAST Bambili. Then he began to write - and write.    

Suggested Reading:

Perspectives on Written Cameroon Literature in English. By Shadrach Ambanason.       

Books by Colin Diyen

Ring Road "Safari". 

The earth fights back.      

Earth in Peril.   

Husband Consultant. 

Daddy.              

Wife Consultant. 

In the service of Satan.  

The Earth, Mungongon and the dwarf revolt

Earth

OMOSEYE BOLAJI (Nigeria)

By P. Lechesa

Omoseye Bolaji has been writing creatively practically his whole life! By his own account, he was already creating, writing and typing stories since he was a kid. Later on, whilst living in South Africa, he blossomed as a superb writer.

He is certainly one of the most prolific writers in Africa, despite his many other glittering selfless contributions to literature. His bibliography shows he has published close to 40 books straddling a myriad of genres, aside from thousands of journalistic pieces and articles over the years.

By the time he was a young man, Bolaji had not only published some early books of his, but made a name for himself in west Africa by publishing hundreds of short stories locally. He had also already published articles in Europe, including features for the international magazine, World Soccer which is distributed in most countries of the

world.

Some of Bolaji's early short stories would be published in another of his early books, They Never Say When (1994). Later on, he would publish another work of short stories, The Guillotine (2001), with his short stories also being published in many magazines, newspapers, and general books.     

Bolaji is known to many readers these days as the creator of the series of books usually

dubbed "The Tebogo Mystery series". Eight of these books have now been written and published by the author, the last one in 2012 (Tebogo and the Bacchae). But Bolaji has also published other general novels.

Omoseye Bolaji's major works of fiction were published within a few years of each other. Impossible Love, perhaps his most satisfying work of "art" came out in 2000. A year later saw the publication of The ghostly adversary, a brilliant thriller. In 2003 he produced his most acclaimed fictional work, People of the Townships.   

People of the Townships, based on the SA (black) townships is not a work of "violence" as one might expect; it is almost the opposite. The protagonist, Lefuo is a young, rather impoverished, seemingly docile man. He is something of an intellectual, a thinker. As critic Deon Simphiwe Skade has suggested he "did not see himself as belonging to (his own) society".

Remarkably, Bolaji in his novel, People of the Townships creates an unforgettable protagonist who seems very much at odds with his flawed society - reminiscent of similar protagonists who appear in books like Fragments (by Ayi Kwei Armah), The Voice (Gabriel Okara), and The madness of Didi (Obi Egbuna).           

Bolaji has published a play, The subtle transgressor, which is also based on the SA

townships. Reaction to the play has been mixed, with the general consensus being that at least the theme of the work is laudable: a shrill, imaginative condemnation of female abuse with very young ladies at the epicentre.   

As for Bolaji's poetry, it does appear that his fortunes here are rather plummeting. His early Snippets (1998) comes across as a collection of mainly superb poems;

Reverie (2006) is refined and a triumph; whilst Poems from Mauritius constitutes some sort of bathos.        

Some pundits have pointed out that in his recent writings, Bolaji has been focusing

essentially on literary criticism or literary evaluation and appreciation of other writers, books, and corpus. Certainly Thoughts on FS Writing (2002) focuses on pure literature, as does Cognoscenti (2016). There are also many chapters focusing on "pure literature" in Bolaji's books like My life and literature, Miscellaneous Writings, It

Couldn't Matter Less, and Far Up! Far Out! Far More!. But then again, in many of these aforementioned works, there are also powerful elements of the short story, vignettes, and imaginative nous.

Bolaji has gone out of his way to boost and encourage many other African writers, especially younger ones, over the years. This aspect of his formidable repertoire was particularly stressed when he was formally conferred with the Chancellor's Medal by the University of the Free State in 2007.    

Omoseye Bolaji has also been recognised with Lifetime Achievement Awards, alongside many other accolades. He was also conferred with a Chieftaincy title by the Olubadan (King) of Ibadan in appreciation of his contributions to literature. At least a dozen full-length books (studies) written by various authors have been published focusing on Bolaji's work, vision, and remarkable literary achievements.  

Books by Bolaji

Fiction

Impossible Love (2000)
Tebogo Investigates (2000)
The ghostly adversary (2001)
Tebogo’s spot of bother (2001)
People of the Townships (2003)
Tebogo Fails (2003)
Ask Tebogo (2004)
Tebogo and the haka (2008)
Tebogo and the epithalamion (2009)
Tebogo and the pantophagist (2010)
Tebogo and the Bacchae (2012)


Short stories

They Never Say When (1994)
The Guillotine (2001)
The Quack of Qwaqwa (2003)
You never know with Women (2002)

Poetry

Snippets (1998)
Reverie (2006)
Poems from Mauritius (2007)
Collected Poems (2013) - Mbali Press. Sponsored by NAC of South Africa

Literary essays/criticism

Thoughts on Free State Writing (2002)
Molebogeng Alitta Mokhuoa (2004)
Cognoscenti (2016)
Sorry You've Been Troubled (forthcoming)

Biographies

The story of Collins Mokhotho (2000)
Gilbert Modise: the man and the myth (2001)
My life and literature (2007)
Kunle Apantaku (2013)

Drama

The subtle transgressor (2006)


General

Eagles at USA 94 (1994)
The golden pen of Eselby (1994)
Fillets of Plaice (2000)
My Opinion (2005)
Miscellaneous Writings

It Couldn't Matter Less (2013)
Windmills of the Dames (2014)
Far Up! Far Out! Far More! (2014)

MAJOR STUDIES ON HIS WORK

Omoseye Bolaji: His Writings/Catalyst for FS Writing. By Pule Lebuso. 2001.
Omoseye Bolaji: Perspectives on his literary work. By Flaxman Qoopane. 2003
Omoseye Bolaji: Channelling one s thoughts onto paper. By Charmaine Kolwane. 2005
 
TEBOGO ON THE PROWL (Study on his creation, sleuth Tebogo Mokoena) By Petro Schonfeld. 2006
Omoseye Bolaji... On awards, authors, literature. By Pule Lechesa. 2007
THE CREST By Flaxman Qoopane. 2008
Omoseye Bolaji: Further perspectives. By Julia Mooi. 2009
OMOSEYE BOLAJI. By Hector Kunene. 2010
Interviews with effervescent Writers. Edited by Christine Mautjana. 2012. (pages 20 –39)
OMOSEYE BOLAJI: A voyage around his literary work. By Ishmael Mzwandile Soqaga. 2012
BOLAJI IN HIS POMP A bio-critical overview of writer Omoseye Bolaji . By Pule Lechesa. 2013
Omoseye Bolaji's Tebogo Mokoena (essays on Tebogo the fictional detective). Edited by Charmaine Kolwane. 2016

MATSHIDISO TALENG (South Africa)

By O Bolaji

With the recent release of her first novel - Unfolding the documentary (2016), Matshidiso Taleng has gone a long way in confirming her glittering literary promise which pundits have identified in recent years.  

 

In 2013 Taleng published her debut work, Secrets (poetry) which showcased dazzling verses: earnest, passionate, spontaneous, and rather burnished.   

Pertinent literary aficionados easily commend Taleng for her extraordinary dedication to her craft. She really is imbued with the quintessential spirit and passion for the genre of literature: reading, conceptualising, researching, writing et al.       

Now at the age of 27, a newly published novelist, Taleng is one of South Africa's youngest female black novelists. Of course SA has a rich tradition of quality female black novelists over the decades: Miriam Tlali, Laureta Ngcobo, Sindiwe Magona, Kagiso Lesego, NMM Duman, Futhi Ntshingila - but on the whole, such black women writers are exceedingly thin on the ground.

Hence Ms Taleng can hold her head high, as she continues to etch a niche for herself in the sphere of imaginative writing. She hails "proudly" from the Free State which in recent times has experienced exceeding dynamism and fecundity as far as "Black writing" is concerned.  

Gifted literary practitioner, Thabiso Mofokeng has commented thus on Taleng’s novel: 'Unfolding a superb artistic intuition at work. Punch after punch! Encapsulating a story in a way that incites people to read!'

Talk about growing by leaps and bounds! No doubt the literary world will continue to fix its relentless gaze on Matshidiso Taleng, and her ineluctable development.

CHARMAINE KOLWANE MRWEBI

Charmaine Kolwane Mrwebi, a South African female writer and cultural activist, has published two major studies on African writers - Chief O Bolaji, and Flaxman Qoopane.    

Charmaine was actually only in her early 20's when she published her comprehensive study on Bolaji in 2005, titled Channeling one s thoughts onto Paper. She would later update and revise this work. And in 2016, she has just published the first major  study-book on Flaxman Qoopane titled "Father of Letters".

The importance of such major studies on writers – particularly African writers - can not be over-emphasised. Readers might not be able to read or appreciate all the major works of writers, but an important study-book on such writers introduces such wordsmiths and their work to the world.         

Hence in the African context, scholars and readers can already appreciate major studies (books) published over the years on the likes of Camara Laye, Ayi Kwei Armah, Es'kia Mphahlele, Bessie Head, Marechera, Chinua Achebe, Dangarembga, Wole Soyinka, Ngugi and other key writers. 

Interestingly, Bolaji has reminisced about Charmaine's early study on his own work:

Quote  When I first met Charmaine years ago, she was just in her early 20’s. I could hardly believe her passion for books and the world of letters whilst most ladies of her age were obsessed with material things including fine smartphones, cars, clothes, and the like. At the time, she was already churning out passionate poetry and essays – I smile wryly now as I recollect some of her letters which I published in newspapers and magazines at the time. I also had the pleasure of publishing some of her poignant poetry then.

I was rather taken aback years ago when Charmaine told me she was writing a book about me. Although I did not say it at the time, my first feeling was that she was too “immature” to undertake such a task. I was however pleasantly surprised to see how brilliant the book she produced was. It can now be revealed that the book was written in record time too! Her analytical and critical nous (ability) is displayed in the work titled “Omoseye Bolaji: Channeling one’s thoughts onto paper”. The book was not only a great success locally and nationally, but is stocked in some of the best Universities in the world now… end of quote

Charmaine's study on Flaxman Qoopane brings together a number of essays, articles, poems, vignettes etc on the protagonist. Also included are samples of Qoopane's essays on literature. Writers and essayists of the calibre of Goodenough Mashego, Bolaji, Ishmael Soqaga, Teboho Masakala, and JahRose Jafta contribute to this work.

Charmaine has published other books, apart from her studies on these writers; in particular she has published a lot of poetry, books for children, and other works in African languages.

It should also be noted, that like all good writers, Charmaine has been a great reader of books since her childhood. This is evident from virtually everything she writes, and her ideas.           

With her boundless energy and dynamism, together with her incredible vision and goodwill, Charmaine Kolwane Mrwebi will no doubt continue to do wonderful things for African literature.

  - R Mokoena