The African Literature Association (ALA) is an independent non-profit professional society that was founded in the United States in 1974, with the aim of promoting literary and cultural studies related to, and about, Africa and its diasporic populations.[1] It is open to scholars, teachers and writers from every country.[2] According to its mission statement: "The ALA as an organization affirms the primacy of the African peoples in shaping the future of African literature and actively supports the African peoples in their struggle for liberation."[3]
In 2024, Professor Gichingiri Ndigirigi was named as president of the ALA.[4]
Background
The ALA's inaugural conference was held at the University of Texas at Austin in 1975, when Dennis Brutus was elected the first chair of the organization.[5] The ALA holds annual conferences on a variety of themes, marking its 50th anniversary with the 2025 conference on "Ecologies of Transition: Spaces and Mobilities in African Literaurl=ture and Cultures", hosted by the University of Nairobi's Department of Literature.[6]
Journal of the African Literature Association (JALA)
In 2006, the organization launched its Journal of the African Literature Association (JALA).[7] The journal is published by Taylor & Francis.[8][9]
↑ Ogwude, S. "History, Progress & Prospects in the Development of African Literature: A Tribute to Dennis Brutus". In Emenyonu, Ernest N., and Chimalum Nwankwo (eds), Reflections & Retrospectives: African Literature Today, Boydell and Brewer, 2012, p. 98. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781782040484-007.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.