Half a century after the great rush to independence by dozens of African countries, a new generation of post-post-colonial writers are taking up the story. Among them are the Kenyan writer Binyavanga Wainaina, who tells Richard Lea why the new generation don't want to write about Aids and Oxfam, and how the English novel no longer has the resonance it once had among young African writers.
We're joined in the studio by Lizzy Attree, administrator of the Caine prize for African writing and a former winner of the prize, the Zimbabwean writer Brian Chikwava. We return to Europe to talk to the Basque novelist Bernardo Atxaga about why he chose an African setting for his latest novel.
Reading list
The Granta Book of the African Short Story edited by Helon Habila (Granta)
Seven Houses in France by Bernardo Atxaga (Harvill)
One Day I Will Write about this Place by Binyavanga Wainaina (Granta)
Harare North by Brian Chikwava (Cape)
