African Roar

The Making of African Roar

Starting as a dream in 2007, initiated in March 2009, and now published, I am very happy to present StoryTime's first anthology, African Roar.

African Roar is a fiction anthology drawn from the very best stories published from 2007-2009, in the StoryTime weekly literary ezine dedicated to publishing African writers. Between these covers you will find eleven stories that stand as a testament to the upsurge of talented African writers boldly utilising the cutting edge of technology and the writing craft to be read globally. Spanning Africa and the African Diaspora in past, present and future, each story has a fresh and diverse vision that opens up new vistas of experience. From the lucid terrors of domestic violence through the eyes of a child, and the anguish of those left behind by a fleeing Diaspora, to a full circle, when the prey becomes the hunter and has the opportunity for revenge, and a dryly humorous look at what it's like to lose a quarter of your brain, to name just a few of the treasures that lie within. Edited by Emmanuel Sigauke & Ivor W. Hartmann, published by The Lion Press Ltd."

There is no doubt that the internet, together with digital publishing, has changed - and is still changing - the world of published literature. In the case of Africa and the African Diaspora, I certainly believe it has been for the better. Never before have so many African writers been visibly active and prolific. There is a revolution going on in the world of African literature, an African Roar that is beginning to echo around the world.

When I first started StoryTime in 2007, it was because I saw there was a need to provide an independent global online platform for new and established African writers, a platform where all fiction genres were accepted and the only requirement was a good story well told. From the very beginning I had a dream of utilising StoryTime to build up a body of work from all over Africa and the African Diaspora, from which eventually a book anthology might be drawn. At last that dream has been realised, and could not have been possible without the enthusiasm and support of all the StoryTime authors. One of the authors, Emmanuel Sigauke, offered to co-edit African Roar with me back when it was still just a dream, and Sarudzayi Barnes, founder of The Lion Press, offered to publish the anthology.

African Roar is to be the first in an annual anthology series that will continue to select the very best of what has been published in the StoryTime ezine throughout the preceding year. The story selections were made through a process of a public voting by the StoryTime readers and then a final editors' selection. Each story then went through a rigorous editing process to ensure its highest potential.

What we have arrayed in this first anthology is an outstanding body of fiction from some of the finest emerging African writers today. With authors from all over Africa and in the African Diaspora, African Roar is now and promises to be a true cross-section of African literature. However, the proof is in the reading and I hope you enjoy this small banquet of African literature as much as we have in preparing it for you.

African Roar features short fiction from:
Ayesha Harruna Attah, Ayodele Morocco-Clarke, Beaven Tapureta, Chuma Nwokolo Jr., Christopher Mlalazi, Emmanuel Sigauke, Ivor W. Hartmann, Kola Tubosun, Masimba Musodza, Nana Awere Damoah, and Novuyo Rosa Tshuma.