This collection of work by the Nigerian-born writer Ogali, includes short fiction, plays, and journalistic essays. Written in English, the pieces remain rooted in the traditional values of Ogali's native culture. Common to many of them is a strong humanism and a critique of Western individualism.

This collection of work by the Nigerian-born writer Ogali, includes short fiction, plays, and journalistic essays. Written in English, the pieces remain rooted in the traditional values of Ogali's native culture. Common to many of them is a strong humanism and a critique of Western individualism.

This 1973 text was the first detailed study of that phenomenon of the African literary scene, Onitsha market literature. Pen names and pamphlet titles adopted by Onitsha authors have often been the subject of amused comment, but it took a long time for Onitsha writing to be recognised for what it is: a genuinely popular literature, unique on Africa, written in English by Africans for an exclusively African audience. What are the origins of this literature? Why did it start in Onitsha? Why do certain themes recur? Where have the writer acquired their unconventional attitudes to love, marriage, sex? What influences have shaped the robust and unorthodox language they use? Dr Obiechina answers these questions and asks what we can learn from the Onitsha authors about social change in Nigeria - how do they attempt to reconcile the traditional rural community and the aggressive individualistic urban society with alien values?

Mazi Ogaranya makes money from government and private contracts. As a registered government contractor and member of a political party, he collects 'mobilisation fees' and then abandons the contracts. He also owns several companies employing beautiful girls permanently at his disposal, and has several wives. But his life is disrupted when one of these wives turns out to be a witch, and one of his sons, a thief in his own right. Ogali is one of the most prolific, versatile and successful popular writers in Nigeria. His works include: My Daughter (of Onitsha Market Literature Fame); Coal City; and The Juju Priest.