Daughters of Africa


Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Words and Writings by Women of African Descent from the Ancient Egyptian to the Present is a compilation of orature and literature by more than 200 women from Africa and the African diaspora, edited and introduced by Margaret Busby, who compared the process of assembling the volume to "trying to catch a flowing river in a calabash".
First published in 1992, in London by Jonathan Cape, and in New York by Pantheon Books, Daughters of Africa is regarded as a pioneering work, covering a variety of genres — including fiction, essays, poetry, drama, memoirs and children's writing — and more than 1000 pages in extent. Arranged chronologically, beginning with traditional oral poetry, it includes work translated from African languages as well as from Dutch, French, German, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish.
The anthology's title derives from an 1831 declaration by Maria W. Stewart, the first African-American woman to give public lectures, in which she said: "O, ye daughters of Africa, awake! awake! arise! no longer sleep nor slumber, but distinguish yourselves. Show forth to the world that ye are endowed with noble and exalted faculties."
A companion volume entitled New Daughters of Africa, featuring a further 200-plus contributors, was published in 2019. As described by Bernardine Evaristo in The Guardian in June 2020: "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."

Reception

Daughters of Africa was widely praised on publication. Reviewing the anthology for Black British newspaper The Weekly Journal, Evie Arup wrote: "Daughters of Africa is a literary first. Never before has the work of women of African descent world-wide been gathered together in one volume. The breadth of this collection is startling.... This book should be required reading for any student of literature, and a standard reference book in school libraries, and, to paraphrase that well known slogan, 'every home should have one.'"
A reviewer from The Independent observed: "This book may seem to be about literature but in the end it is as much a testament to language: its power to create attitudes as well as its potency as a means of expression." Described by The Observer as a "glorious fat anthology that makes a history out of a selection, and puts an unsung group of people on the map", according to Library Journal, it is "an invaluable text for courses on women writers and writers of African descent", and Keneth Kinnamon in Callaloo saw it as "impressive", noting: "Brief headnotes and long bibliographies enhance the value of this important volume."
Lorna Sage in the Independent on Sunday concluded that "Daughters of Africa has a paradoxical universality", while The Washington Post Book World called it: "A magnificent starting place for any reader interested in becoming part of the collective enterprise of discovering and uncovering the silent, forgotten, and underrated voices of black women." The reviewer for Black Enterprise wrote: "It is a landmark anthology.... Busby's first-of-a-kind anthology is a poignant reminder of how vast and varied the body of black women's writing is." It has also been called "groundbreaking", "one of the most significant assemblages of writers across the diaspora" and "the ultimate reference guide to the writing of 'daughters of Africa'".
The Times Literary Supplement review by Maya Jaggi stated: "With rare exceptions, anthologies of black writing and of women's writing have given the impression that there was very little literary endeavour by black women before the 1980s. Margaret Busby's impressive and imaginative selection of 'words and writings', Daughters of Africa, finally destroys that misconception, while tracing continuities within a tradition of women's writing, deriving from Africa yet stretching across continents and centuries."
Jaggi goes on to say: "Some writings have been selected primarily for their historical significance, or to celebrate little-known landmarks of achievement. Most, however, have been chosen for their literary qualities, making the anthology a source of continual pleasure and surprise. The cumulative power of this monumental and absorbing anthology stems from the clarity and vibrancy of the voices it assembles. While effectively dismissing the equation of oppression with 'voicelessness', it restores marginalized or isolated writers to the centre of their own rich, resilient and truly international tradition."
The anthology was included in Sacred Fire: "QBR" 100 Essential Black Books, which said:
"Daughters of Africa is a monumental achievement because it is the most comprehensive international anthology of oral and written literature by women of African descent ever attempted. The success of the collection is that it clearly illustrates why all women of African descent are connected by showing how closely related are the obstacles, the chasms of cultural indifference, and the disheartening racial and sexual dilemmas they faced. In so doing, the collection captures the range of their singular and combined accomplishments.
Daughters of Africa′s accomplishment lies in its glorious portrayal of the richness and magnitude of the spiritual well from which we've all drawn inspiration and to where we've all gone for sustenance, and as such, it is a stunning literary masterpiece."

The anthology was on the Royal African Society's list of "50 Books By African Women That Everyone Should Read", was named by Ms Afropolitan as one of "7 non-fiction books African feminists should read", features regularly on many required-reading lists, and in the words of Kinna Likimani: "It remains the ultimate guide to women writers of African descent."

Contributors

More than 200 women are featured in Daughters of Africa, including:
The anthology inspired Koyo Kouoh to edit a German-language equivalent, Töchter Afrikas, that was published in 1994.
In November 2017 Wasafiri magazine included a special feature marking the 25th anniversary of the first publication of Daughters of Africa, including an interview with the editor by Ellah Wakatama Allfrey, an article by Candida Lacey and contributions from Edwige-Renée Dro, Angela Barry, Goretti Kyomuhendo, Nadifa Mohamed, Phillippa Yaa de Villiers and Ayobami Adebayo about the influence of the anthology on them.
Listing many of the names included in Daughters of Africa, Tom Odhiambo of the University of Nairobi stated: "These writers can be described as the matriarchs of African literature. They pioneered 'African' writing, in which they were not simply writing stories about their families, communities and countries, but they were also writing themselves into the African literary history and African historiography. They claimed space for women storytellers in the written form, and in some sense reclaimed the woman’s role as the creator and carrier of many African societies’ narratives, considering that the traditional storytelling session was a women’s domain."

''New Daughters of Africa''

In December 2017, it was announced that a companion volume, entitled New Daughters of Africa, had been commissioned from Margaret Busby by Myriad Editions. Published in March 2019, New Daughters of Africa: An international anthology of writing by women of African descent features a further 200 writers: "The new volume expands on and reinforces the assertions of its predecessor. While including texts from the nineteenth century to the present, the book focuses primarily on writers who have come of age in the decades following Daughters of Africa’s publication." It contains not only many well-known names but "a host of literary notables of the future".
Among the contributors to New Daughters of Africa are: Adeola Solanke, Adrienne Kennedy, Afua Hirsch, Aja Monet, Akosua Busia, Aminatta Forna, Amma Asante, Andaiye, Andrea Levy, Andrea Stuart, Angela Barry, Anni Domingo, Ayesha Harruna Attah, Ayeta Anne Wangusa, Ayòbámi Adébáyò, Barbara Chase-Riboud, Barbara Jenkins, Bernardine Evaristo, Bonnie Greer, Bridget Minamore, Camille T. Dungy, Candace Allen, Candice Carty-Williams, Carolyn Cooper, Catherine Johnson, Chibundu Onuzo, Chika Unigwe, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Chinelo Okparanta, Claudia Rankine, Danielle Legros Georges, Delia Jarrett-Macauley, Diana Evans, Diana Ferrus, Diane Abbott, Donika Kelly, Doreen Baingana, Dorothea Smartt, Edwidge Danticat, Edwige-Renée Dro, Effie Waller Smith, Elizabeth Keckley, Elizabeth Nunez, Ellah Wakatama Allfrey, Ellen Banda-Aaku, Esi Edugyan, Eve Ewing, Florida Ruffin Ridley, Gabeba Baderoon, Glaydah Namukasa, Goretti Kyomuhendo, Hannah Pool, Harriet Anena, Hawa Jande Golakai, Imbolo Mbue, Irenosen Okojie, Isabella Matambanadzo, Jackee Budesta Batanda, Jacqueline Bishop, Jay Bernard, Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi, Jennifer Teege, Jesmyn Ward, Joanne C. Hillhouse, Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin, Karen Lord, Karen McCarthy Woolf, Ketty Nivyabandi, Kit de Waal, Leila Aboulela, Leone Ross, Lesley Lokko, Lola Shoneyin, Maaza Mengiste, Makhosazana Xaba, Malika Booker, Malorie Blackman, Margo Jefferson, Marie NDiaye, Marina Salandy-Brown, Maxine Beneba Clarke, Meta Davis Cumberbatch, Mildred Barya, Minna Salami, Monica Arac de Nyeko, Nadia Davids, Nadifa Mohamed, Nalo Hopkinson, Namwali Serpell, Nana-Ama Danquah, Nana Asma'u, Nana Oforiatta Ayim, Natalia Molebatsi, Natasha Trethewey, Nawal El Saadawi, Nikky Finney, Nnedi Okorafor, Novuyo Rosa Tshuma, Olúmìdé Pópóọlá, Panashe Chigumadzi, Patience Agbabi, Patrice Lawrence, Patricia Cumper, Phillippa Yaa de Villiers, Rashidah Ismaili, Rebecca Walker, Reni Eddo-Lodge, Roxane Gay, Sade Adeniran, Safia Elhillo, Sandra Jackson-Opoku, Sapphire, Sarah Ladipo Manyika, Sarah Parker Remond, Sefi Atta, Simi Bedford, Stella Dadzie, Summer Edward, Taiye Selasi, Tanella Boni, Tiphanie Yanique, Trifonia Melibea Obono, Verna Wilkins, Warsan Shire, Winsome Pinnock, Yaba Badoe, Yassmin Abdel-Magied, Yemisi Aribisala, Yewande Omotoso, Yolanda Arroyo Pizarro, Yvvette Edwards, Yrsa Daley-Ward, Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor, Yvonne Vera, Zadie Smith, Zandria Robinson, Zoe Adjonyoh, Zukiswa Wanner, and others.
New Daughters of Africa was launched in London at the South Bank Centre on 9 March 2019 at the WOW Festival, and contributors were subsequently featured at many other festivals and venues in the UK and abroad, including at the Wimbledon BookFest, the NGC Bocas Lit Fest in Trinidad, the Bernie Grant Arts Centre, and Somerset House. Editions of the anthology were also later published in the US by Amistad and in South Africa by Jonathan Ball Publishers.

Selected review coverage for ''New Daughters''

The review in the Irish Times, describing New Daughters of Africa as a "vast and nuanced collection", notes that it is "arranged in order of the women's birth decades, a chronological reminder that African women have been creating art for many centuries; the youngest included are still in their twenties.... a necessary wealth of work – a welcome addition to any book shelf and a compulsory education for anyone unaware of the countless gifted African women journalists, essayists, poets and speakers who should influence how we see the world."
Imani Perry wrote in the Financial Times: "Anthologies can read as mere assortment or collection. But their function, particularly when well composed — as is the case with this book — can be much more deliberate. Busby's choice to organise the writers by generation, rather than region or date of publication, has a powerful effect. From the 18th century to the present, the location of black women across borders — yet always in the winds of political, economic and social orders — emerges. Questions of freedom, autonomy, family, race and social transformation present themselves in generational waves. Thus, with more than 200 contributors, this anthology is also a social and cultural world history."
The review by in the Kenyan Daily Nation said: "It is the kind of literary compendium that many prospective African women writers need to have today....New Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Writing by Women of African Descent is a collection that the expert on literature, women studies, gender studies, African history; the feminist reader/scholar; or even the general reader will find refreshing considering the scope of the writing, as well as helpful as a reference source."
Paul Burke's review in NB magazine, rating the anthology 5/5, stated: "This is a beautiful, challenging and triumphant collection of writing that increases our understanding of humanity and entertains royally....I'm just bowled over by the quality and breadth of contributions here but also the way they coalesce. The writing is, depending on each author's style, sharp, funny, romantic, confrontational and politically astute. 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....This is a full on sensory experience, a stimulation for the brain and for the heart and some of the writing here stirs the blood and twists the gut....The depth of psychological, political, economic and cultural insight here is awe inspiring."
In the opinion of the reviewer for the New York Journal of Books:
"Here is the book so many have been waiting for. The book to make sense of so many others....The topics are just as varied and shine bright lights on the lives of critically underrepresented women of color, and on the contributions of these gifted literary scholars: motherhood, slavery, love, work, immigration, assimilation, friendship, thwarted aspiration, infidelity, racism, marriage, poverty, and on and on.
In fact, the only thing that is not varied here is the gloriously even quality of the writing. These are stories for crying and laughing and thinking. They are narratives for understanding, for seeking, for finding, yes, because it is a catalogue of lives that are not shown as much and as consistently as we need them to be.
...It is, perhaps, this bulk, this excess, this non-superfluous surplus, this literal and literary embarrassment of riches that sends the strongest of messages. Yes, there is this much talent and achievement here in the literature of people of color, the roots of these writers in Africa, but their immense contribution extends to every continent. It is this good. It is this great. So, how is it that it continues to be such a low percentage of all that is published, widely distributed, critiqued, discussed, taught, and shared?"

Scholarship and awards

Connected with the new anthology, the "Margaret Busby New Daughters of Africa Award" was announced by the publisher, Myriad Editions, in partnership with SOAS, University of London, that will benefit an African woman student, with accommodation provided by International Students House, London. The first recipient of the award was announced in July 2020 as Idza Luhumyo from Kenya.
Busby and Myriad Editions teamed with community-interest organization The Black Curriculum – founded to address the lack of black British history being taught – to donate 500 copies of New Daughters of Africa to schools in the UK.
New Daughters of Africa was nominated for a NAACP Image Award in 2020 in the category of Outstanding Literary Work, alongside books by Petina Gappah, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Jacqueline Woodson, and Margaret Wilkerson Sexton, who was the eventual winner.