Download or read book The Ordeal of the African Writer written by Charles Larson and published by Zed Books. This book was released on 2001 with total page 184 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Only a small number of African writers - Chinua Achebe, Ben Okri, Nuruddin Farah, Wole Soyinka - have become known outside their own continent. They also face enormous obstacles within Africa to get their work published, let alone to support themselves financially from their writing. Charles Larson combines writers' own testimony, pen portraits of their lives, and factual investigation to explore the dimensions of the problem. Who is the readership in Africa? How do African publishing houses treat their authors? What are the consequences of political repression? And can anything be done to build a more supportive environment for African writers?