A new edition of the definitive collection of modern poetry from Africa
"Poetry, always foremost of the arts in traditional Africa," writes Gerald Moore, "has continued to compete for primacy against the newer forms of prose fiction and theatre drama." Now revised and expanded, this comprehensive anthology features the work of ninety-nine poets from twenty-seven countries; thirty-one of the poets appear here for the first time. War songs, satires, and political protests jostle with poems about love, nature, and the surprises of life, offering a rich and wide-ranging body of creative work.
For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Gerald Moore was born in London in 1924. After serving in the navy during the war, he read English at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. Apart from ten years in the School of African and Asian Studies at Sussex, he has taught at universities in various parts of Africa and in Hong King. He has also been a visiting professor at UCLA, the University of Wisconsin–Madison, the University of Ghana, and the University of Ife. His publications include The Chosen Tongue: English Writing in the Tropical World, Wole Soyinka, Twelve African Writers, and The Penguin Book of Modern African Poetry. He has also published translations of Mongo Beti, Henri Lopes, Tchicaya U Tam’si, and J.-B. Tati Loutard.
Ulli Beier was born in Germany in 1922. From 1950 to 1971 he taught literature and creative writing at the universities of Ibadan and Papua New Guinea. During the period of 1971 to 1978 he was the director of research institutes in Nigeria and New Guinea. In 1981 he founded and directed IWALEWA Haus, a center for contemporary art, music, and literature from the Third World. He died in 2011.