Poetry, always foremost of the arts in traditional Africa, writes Gerald Moore, has continued to compete for primacy against the newer forms of prose fiction and theatre drama. Now revised and expanded, this comprehensive anthology features the work of ninety-nine poets from twenty-seven countries; thirty-one of the poets appear here for the first time. War songs, satires, and political protests jostle with poems about love, nature, and the surprises of life, offering a rich and wide-ranging body of creative work.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.