Books in the Heinemann African Writers Series series

Mindblast is a powerful collection of plays, fiction, poetry and autobiography in which Dambudzo Marechera (1952-1987) turned the full force of his formidable powers on Zimbabwe in transition. Brilliant and infuriating, Mindblast showcases his iconoclasm, his wit and his inventive use of language.

Abdallah Harfash, a former secret service agent, is determined to become a writer after an accident costs him his leg and his job. This quest takes him on a curious and often comic journey. Amir Tag Elsir's novel is filled with strange situations and even stranger characters.

A brilliant novel from Ghana portraying a crucial period in the nation's history.

Young rural widow Nasula suffers years of economic hardship, dreaming of a better life for her daughter. She goes to Lusaka to sell her last sack of highly sought-after Mbala beans, but in the city finds herself exposed to new and predatory dangers.

1990s South Africa is changing. Or is it? Jewish barrister Jeremy Spielman questions this as he defends a black man accused of murder. His girlfriend's belief in the superiority of whites, the anti-Semitism, and the unfairness of the legal system, all become increasingly apparent.

All by writers who spent their formative years in South Africa, this diverse range of short stories spans from the end of World War II when the National Party was on the upsurge, to the early 1990s when the legal framework of apartheid was abolished, the ANC was legalized and Mandela was released.

First published in 1946, this novel exposed the condition of black South Africans under a white regime. It presents a portrait of labour discrimination, appalling housing conditions and one man's humanitarian act of defiance.

Explores life on the Makuyu and Kameno ridges of Kenya in the early days of white settlement. Faced with an alluring, new religion and "magical" customs, the Gikuyu people are torn between those who fear the unknown and those who see beyond it.

This collection includes the work of both established and new poets from the four corners of Africa. The majority of poems were originally written in English but there are translations from Swahili, Yoruba, Portugese and French.

Tells the moving story about the effects of the Mau Mau war on the lives of ordinary men and women in Kenya. In the forests, the Mau Mau are waging war against the white government, and two brothers, Kamau and Njoroge, and the rest of the family must decide where their loyalties lie.

A collection of short stories of diverse characters whose fates fascinate and alarm.

Joint Winner of the Guardian Fiction Prize 1979

This product is suitable for young adults and adults. It is a fictional novel set in Central Africa which explores African religion and philosophy.

In 1947 the workers on the Dakar-Niger Railway came out on strike. Throughout this novel, written from the workers' perspective, the community social tensions emerge, and increase as the strike lengthens. The author's other novels include "Xala" and "Black Docker".

Critically acclaimed Ghanaian author Kojo Laing's second novel takes the reader on a fantastic journey filled with unforgettable characters and magical places.

Written in the form of a diary, kept by the Cameroonian houseboy Toundi, this book looks at Toundi's innocence and his awe of the white world of his masters.

It is never clear to Elizabeth whether the mission principal's cruel revelations of her origins is at the bottom of her mental breakdown, but in the dark loneliness of the Botswanan night, the frightened South African refugee slips in and out of sanity.

This anthology of 20 stories are from all over Africa, grouped geographically into four different sections - West, East, North and Southern Africa.

Adah's desire to write is pitted against the forces of an egotistical and unfeeling husband and a largely indifferent white society.

This anthology represents the talent and scope to be found in contemporary African writing. It contains both new and previously published stories by such authors as Nadine Gordimer, Ben Okri, Kojo Laing, Mia Couto and Moyez Vassanji.

In 1977, Steve Biko was murdered in his prison cell. He was only 31, but his vision and charisma - captured in this collection of his work - had already transformed the agenda of South African politics. This book looks at the philosophy of black consciousness, Bantustans and African culture.

The central story in this book tells of an upright man resisting the temptations of easy bribes and easy satisfactions and winning for his honesty nothing but scorn.

Tells the classic story of the Zulu hero Chaka.

This novel about Nigeria prophesied the 1983 coup.