Working in collaboration with Black Star Books and Pearson Education Ltd, Apollo Africa is the new home for 100 titles from the historic Heinemann African Writers Series. The first fourteen of these titles will be made available in October 2023 to coincide with Black History Month:
Ama Ata Aidoo – No Sweetness Here
Bessie Head – The Lovers
Buchi Emecheta - The New Tribe
Charles Mungoshi – Waiting for the Rain
Cyprian Ekwensi – Burning Grass
Jamal Mahjoub – Wings of Dust
Ken Saro-Wiwa – Sozaboy
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o – Homecoming
Rebeka Njau – Ripples in the Pool
Shimmer Chinodya – Harvest of Thorns
Wole Soyinka – The Interpreters
Naguib Mahfouz – The Children of Gebelawi
Alex La Guma – A Walk in the Night
Flora Nwapa – Efuru
The Heinemann African Writers Series was launched in 1962 with the publication of Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, Cyprian Ekwensi’s Burning Grass and Kenneth Kaunda’s Zambia Shall be Free, with Achebe himself as an editorial advisor. The series, under the stewardship of Aigboje Higo, James Currey, Henry Chakuva, Vicky Unwin, Caroline Averns, Adewale Maja-Pearce and Abdulrazak Gurnah, continued to publish the best writing from across Africa – plays, poetry, essays and novels – until 2003. The aim of the series was to make the work of African authors as available to as wide a readership as possible, both within Africa and internationally. Apollo Africa’s list features authors from 26 African countries and will once again make these iconic titles available to readers around the world.
Working alongside an Editorial Advisory Board made up of literary agent Nelle Andrew, publishing consultant Nancy Adimora, author Noo Saro-Wiwa and cultural consultant Dean Ricketts, Apollo Africa will make all 100 titles available digitally by March 2024, so that every reader everywhere has access to the books. Titles from the list will be selected for trade release from spring 2024 onwards and new writers from across the African continent and diaspora will be sought out to add their voices to the project.
It’s hard to overstate the importance of the African Writers Series. In many ways, it is what led me to start my career in publishing, so working on this project feels like a full circle moment. As an editorial board, we’re committed to ensuring that these titles are thoughtfully repackaged and reintroduced to the broadest possible audience, and I’m particularly looking forward to helping the team identify and platform new writers and stories from across the African continent and diaspora.
Apollo Africa is an important digital resource, a trade showcase for the best African writing in beautiful print editions and an inspiration for readers and a new generation of writers. From a serendipitous conversation at Frankfurt, it has taken the best part of a decade to reach this moment and it wouldn’t have happened without James Woodhouse’s knowledge and diligence, the many miles he has travelled in pursuit of contracts and writers.
Working on this list has been a real thrill. We have been having enlightening, exciting conversations with the board and the wider team here for quite some time and I’m so excited to now be sharing our project more widely.
Head of Zeus would like to thank the following organisations and individuals for their support:
Pearson Education Ltd, The Miles Morland Foundation, The Ford Foundation, Africa No Filter and ProQuest. Niq Mhlongo, Zukiswa Wanner, Nii Parkes, Mukoma wa Ngũgĩ, Yewande Omotoso, Siphiwo Mahala, Goretti Kyomuhendo, Giles Foden, James Murua, Moky Makura, Victor Mark-Onyegbu, Jessica Hagan, Nicolette Naylor, Justin Sylvester, Rutendo Chandiwana, Lerato Mashianoke, Mathilda Edwards, Isaac Amuke, James Currey, Alex Moore, Elisabetta Audisio, Lindsay Johns, Nicole Rakozy, Reneé Naudé and Ruth Cunney.
For more information please email: [email protected]
