<P> African literature in the late colonial period (between the end of World War I and independence) increasingly showed themes of liberation, independence, and (among Africans in French - controlled territories) négritude . One of the leaders of the négritude movement, the poet and eventual President of Senegal, Léopold Sédar Senghor, published in 1948 the first anthology of French - language poetry written by Africans, Anthologie de la nouvelle poésie nègre et malgache de langue française (Anthology of the New Black and Malagasy Poetry in the French Language), featuring a preface by the French existentialist writer Jean - Paul Sartre . </P> <P> For many writers this emphasis was not restricted to their publishing . Many, indeed, suffered deeply and directly: censured for casting aside his artistic responsibilities in order to participate actively in warfare, Christopher Okigbo was killed in battle for Biafra against the Nigerian movement of the 1960s' civil war; Mongane Wally Serote was detained under South Africa's Terrorism Act No 83 of 1967 between 1969 and 1970, and subsequently released without ever having stood trial; in London in 1970, his countryman Arthur Norje committed suicide; Malawi's Jack Mapanje was incarcerated with neither charge nor trial because of an off - hand remark at a university pub; and, in 1995, Ken Saro - Wiwa was hanged by the Nigerian junta . </P> <P> With liberation and increased literacy since most African nations gained their independence in the 1950s and 1960s, African literature has grown dramatically in quantity and in recognition, with numerous African works appearing in Western academic curricula and on "best of" lists compiled at the end of the 20th century . African writers in this period wrote both in Western languages (notably English, French, and Portuguese) and in traditional African languages such as Hausa . </P> <P> Ali A. Mazrui and others mention seven conflicts as themes: the clash between Africa's past and present, between tradition and modernity, between indigenous and foreign, between individualism and community, between socialism and capitalism, between development and self - reliance and between Africanity and humanity . Other themes in this period include social problems such as corruption, the economic disparities in newly independent countries, and the rights and roles of women . Female writers are today far better represented in published African literature than they were prior to independence . </P>

Forces that informed the growth of african literature