One of a series of readers for African students which aims to help them to develop an awareness and a love of language, and consists of stories from all over Africa.

“More convincingly than any other woman writing in Arabic today, Alifa Rifaat lifts the vil on what it means to be a women living within a traditional Muslim society.” So states the translator’s foreword to this collection of the Egyptian author’s best short stories.

Chronicles the lives of two families in post-colonial Africa, the first – poor, working-class and ill-educated – is compared to the young politically aware college student and her journalist fiance.

Gardens and Caves by Emmanuel Uweru Okoh is a 104-page poetry collection bearing a rare mix of the opposites of life; joy and pain, success and occasional flaws, flights and awkward stumbles and all else that make humans who they are.

Young, handsome and intelligent Chike Afare returns for his second year of university with the support of his seemingly stable middle-class family, the inspiring company of exciting friends and a growing curiosity about his place and role in the 90s Nigerian society.

“Reward Nsirim?s stories paint graphic pictures of life in Nigeria. They tell tales that are very familiar, in a voice that is sharp and succinct, quivering with the author?s signature wit. Some will move you to heavy sighs, maybe even the odd tear; others will leave you bent over with laughter. But they will move you one way or the other, as every good story should.” Dikeogu Chukwumerije.