New Daughters of Africa
Twenty-five years ago, Margaret Busby’s Daughters of Africa was published to international acclaim and hailed as “an extraordinary body of achievement . . . a vital document of lost history” (Sunday Times) and “the ultimate reference guide” (Washington Post). New Daughters of Africa continues that tradition for a new generation.
This magnificent follow-up to the original landmark anthology brings together fresh and vibrant voices that have emerged from across the globe in the past two decades, from Antigua to Zimbabwe and Angola to the United States. Key figures, including Margo Jefferson, Nawal El Saadawi, Edwidge Danticat, and Zadie Smith, join popular contemporaries such as Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Imbolo Mbue, Yrsa Daley-Ward, Taiye Selasi, and Chinelo Okparanta in celebrating the heritage that unites them. Each of the pieces in this remarkable collection demonstrates an uplifting sense of sisterhood, honors the strong links that endure from generation to generation, and addresses the common obstacles female writers of color face as they negotiate issues of race, gender, and class and address vital matters of independence, freedom, and oppression.
A glorious portrayal of the richness, magnitude, and range of these visionary writers, New Daughters of Africa spans a range of genres—autobiography, memoir, oral history, letters, diaries, short stories, novels, poetry, drama, humor, politics, journalism, essays, and speeches—demonstrating the diversity and extraordinary literary achievements of black women who remain underrepresented, and whose contributions continue to be underrated in world culture today.
Source: https://www.harpercollins.com/products/new-daughters-of-africa-margaret-busby?variant=32116592279586
Keywords/Themes
Heritage, diaspora, identity, feminism, resistance, liberation, storytelling, racism, memory, solidarity, empowerment.
Book Review & Recommended Use in Classroom
New Daughters of Africa is a good starting point from which to explore the multitude of female writers of African descent, a great collection for teachers to find short texts to use in class and ideal as a ‘Plan B’ for quick access to already curated material. I think this is a great teacher’s resource.
(Alexandra, April 2025)
Sensitive Content
Depends on the excerpt: not all contain sensitive content.
Some include violence and trauma, sexuality, racism, identity struggles, loss and grief.
About the Editor
Margaret Busby was born in 1944 in Accra, in what was then the British colony of the Gold Coast (now Ghana), to parents of Caribbean descent, and moved to the UK for schooling at a young age. She attended Bedford College, London, where she studied English and became involved in the literary world. In her early twenties, Busby co-founded Allison & Busby, becoming the UK’s youngest and first Black female publisher. Her identity and transnational upbringing shaped her lifelong dedication to amplifying underrepresented voices, especially those of women and writers of African descent. Alongside her pioneering work in publishing, she built a career as an editor, writer, and broadcaster, and became known for championing literary diversity. Her acclaimed anthology Daughters of Africa (1992) and its 2019 sequel brought together generations of women writers of African heritage, reflecting her deep commitment to literary inclusion and cultural memory.
