• Bookset: Pacesetters Series (50 titles)

    Relive all the literary jobs of years gone by, by procuring this jumbo set of the famous, now-scarce, Pacesetters Series.

    The Pacesetters Series were a collection of 130 novels written by African authors (mostly Nigerian, but there were also Ghanian, Kenyan and South African writers) for an African audience. It was 1977 when Macmillan decided to publish this low-cost paperback series – with publication mainly happening between 1979 and 1988.

    They were very popular in the 1980s until the series disappeared in the 1990s. The covers were lovely and unique; a bit garish, and so 1980s with their African pop art, but there’s just something about them and how the colourful images portray what the novel is probably about. They are a testament to their time. 

    Exact titles will depend on availability.

  • Africa Writes Back: The African Writers Series & the Launch of African Literature

    June 17, 2008, is the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart by Heinemann. This publication provided the impetus for the foundation of the African Writers Series in 1962 with Chinua Achebe as the editorial adviser. This narrative, drawing liberally on the correspondence with the authors, concentrates on the adventurous first twenty-five years.

    Africa Writes Back: The African Writer’s Series & the Launch of African Literature captures the energy of literary publishing in a new and undefined field. Portraits of the leading characters and the many consultants and readers providing reports and advice to new and established writers make Africa Writes Back a stand-out book. James Currey’s voice and insights are an added bonus.

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