This book explores the development and features of Malawian poetry of resistance, which arguably began with the establishment of the Malawi Writers Group in 1970 and thrived thereafter as a significant literary force in African literature from the 1980s to the 1990s. The group's employment of subversion, orality, and various other poetic techniques that mocked tyranny set apart their expressive styles and identities both in Africa and on a global scale. During Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda's presidency, creative literature encountered censorship targeting works that were critical of the government. This resulted in the incarceration and coercion of writers who voiced concerns regarding the infringement of human rights. This study examines the literary works of Malawi's second generation poets, who are also referred to as part of Africa's third generation writers. Its objective is to present their work alongside the literary contributions of their contemporaries who have authored fiction, in addition to highlighting the promising endeavors of the younger generation of Malawian speculative fiction writers and artists. This initiative seeks to link the two generations to the oral tradition and the zeitgeist.
Dike Okoro
, Professor Emeritus, is formerly Chairperson of the Humanities Department at Harris Stowe State University. He is currently engaged in a two-year senior research fellow position with the Ken Saro-Wiwa Foundation. His awards and recognition include a Newberry Scholar-in-Residence Award, and a Sam Walton Fellowship. He is the author of Futurism and the African Imagination: Literature and Other Arts (2021), Mazisi Kunene: Literature, Activism, and African Worldview (2023), and Lupenga Mphande: Ecocritical Poet/Political Activist (2020). He studied English and poetry, and obtained his MFA from Chicago State University and his PhD in English from University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. He is also a literary critic/essayist and has edited anthologies of African poetry and short stories. He is the editor of We Have Cross Many Rivers: New Poetry from Africa, which was shortlisted by Human Rights Careers Magazine (UK) as one of 5 Vocal Human Rights Poetry Books inspiring change.
