BERTRADE B. NGO-NGIJOL BANOUM, a Camerounian, holds a Ph.D. from the University of Essex, England and is Assistant Professor of Black Studies at Lehman College. She has served as a consultant with UNICEF, UNDP, and international NGOs, including Family Care International (FCI), RAINBO, and African Action on AIDS, Inc. (AAA). Her recent publications include a translation from Basaa into English and French, "Fighting Hunger with Cassava: A Gift of 22 Recipes from the Rural Women of Bogso." She has two forthcoming articles, "Basaa Gender in Typological Perspective" and "Gender Identities and Women's Images in Oral Epic Tradition: A Feminist Reading of Bon ba Hiton." She is presently working on a manuscript titled The Epic of Bon ba Hiton: A Hilun Tradition of the Basaa of Southern Cameroon.

SEYDOU CAMARA was born in 1952, in Bancoumana, Mali. He studied History in Paris and obtained his PhD from EHESS, Paris in 1990. Most of his publications deal with oral tradition and bards as well as 20th century politics in Mali. Currently he is Head of the Department of History and Archaeology at the Institut des Sciences Humaines in Bamako.

ERIC CHARRY is Associate Professor in the Music Department at Wesleyan University. His book, Mande Music: Traditional and Modern Music of the Maninka of Western Africa, was published by the University of Chicago Press in 2000.

GITAHI GITITI was born in Kenya and is Associate Professor of English at the University of Rhode Island. He teaches African, African American, Caribbean, Native American, and Latin American literatures at the University of Rhode Island. He is al published poet.

THOMAS A. HALE is the Liberal Arts Professor and Professor of African, Caribbean, French, and Comparative Literature and chairs the Department of French at Pennsylvania State University. He has published widely on the African oral epic. His most recent works include The Epic of Askia Mohammed, Scribe, Griot and Novelist: Narrative Interpreters of the Songhay Empire, and Griots and Griottes: Masters of Words and Music.

CHANJERI HOVE, a leading Zimbabwean poet, came of age during Zimbabwe's second liberation struggle. He has served as an editor for Mambo Press and Zimbabwe Publishing House. From 1984 to 1989 he served as chairman of the Zimbabwe Writers' Union, which he helped to found. His published works include Up in Arms, Red Hills of Home, a Shona novel Masimba Avanhu? (People's Power?), Bones, Shadows (Shebeen Tales (1994)), Ancestors, and Rainbows in the Dust.

AKÍNWÙMÍ ÌSÖLÁ, Professor Emeritus at Æbáfêmi Awólôwö University, Nigeria, is one of the most prolific and versatile of contemporary Yorùbá creative writers. Well known for his award winning historical play, Efúnsetán Aníwúrà, written in 1966 and published in 1970, Professor Ìsölá is a seasoned Yorùbá dramatist, novelist, poet, and essayist. Although he is fluent in French, English and Yorùbá, Ìsölá has chosen to write mostly in Yorùbá. His published works include: Ó Le Kú (1974), Kòcceégbé (1981), Àfàìmö Àti Àwæn Àròfö Míiràn (1978), Olú Æmæ and Abê Ààbò (1983), Ogún Æmædé (1990).

JAN JANSEN was born in Utrecht, the Netherlands, in 1962 and currently studies History and Cultural Anthropology at Utrecht University. He holds a Ph.D. from Leiden University where he is currently a research fellow at the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.

G. KITULA KING'EI, Kenyan born, has a Ph.D. in Literary Studies and is Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Kiswahili and Other African Languages at Kenyatta University, Nairobi.

KATHERINE KITETU holds a PhD in Linguistics and is currently Lecturer and Chair of the Department of Languages and Linguistics at Egerton University, Kenya.

CARROL LASKER holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature and is an Assistant Professor of Speech and Theater at CUNY's New York City Technical College. Born and raised in South Africa, she has published widely on African literature and has translated many works from Afrikaans and Kaaps. These include the poeetry and drama of Adam Small as well as Arthur Nuthall Fula's The Golden Magnet. Currently she is working on a translation of Black South African women's narratives.

N.P. VAN WYK LOUW was born in Sutherland, South Africa in 1906. He was the major Afrikaans poet and public intellectual of his generation, and he and his brother, W.E.G. Louw, were leading figures in the Afrikaans literary movement of the 1930s. In his collection of essays, Lojale verset (1939), Louw argued for the importance of criticism within Afrikaner nationalism. An educationalist by training, Louw taught at the University of Cape Town for nearly two decades before taking up a position as Extraordinary Professor in South African Language, Literature, Culture and History at the University of Amsterdam. During his time abroad, he wrote many of hi smost important poems, published in Nuwe verse (1954) and Tristia (1962). He also wrote a series of magazine articles defending apartheid "separate development" as a multinationalism consistent with liberal principles. These were published in the collection Liberale Nasionalisme (1958). Returning to South Africa in 1958, he spoke out against some policies of the National Party government, and his play, Die pluimsaad waai ver (1966) was publicly attacked by prime minister H.F. Verwoerd. Chairing the Department of Afrikaans and Nederlands at the University of Witwatersrand, he died in Johannesburg in 1970.

SAU LUGANO, a Ph.D. student and Instructor in Comparative Literature at Pennsylvania State University, is Lecturer in the Department of Kiswahili and Other African Languages at Kenyatta University, Kenya. Lugano is also a short story writer. Among her published translations in Kiswahili is the United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women.

ALAMIN MAZRUI, a Kenyan, is Associate Professor of African and African-American Studies at Ohio State University. He is the author of a collection of poems, Kilio cha Haki, 1988 (A Cry for Justice). Mazrui holds an M.Ed in Language Education from Rutgers University and a Ph.D. in Linguistics from Stanford University in California. He has taught at universities in Kenya, Nigeria and the USA and has served as a consultant to non-governmental organizations in African on such subjects as language and urbanization and language and the law. He has a special interest in human rights and civil liberties and has written policy reports on those subject. He has published plays, poetry and several scholarly works in Kiswahili including Uchambuzi wa Fasihi (Heinemann, Kenya, 1992), co-authored with Benedict Syambo; The Swahili Idiom and Identity (Africa World Press, 1994), with Ibrahim Noor Shariff; Political Culture of Language: Swahili, Society and the State (IGCS, Binghamton University, 1996; Second Edition, 1999), with Ali A. Mazrui; and Power of Babel: Language and Governance in the African Experience (University of Chicago Press, 1998), also co-authored with Ali A. Mazrui.

JOSEPH L. MBELE, a Tanzanian, is Associate Professor of English and Folklore at St. Olaf College. He formerly taught in the Literature Department at the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. His research centers on folklore, especially the epic and folktale. He has published papers in such journals as Africana Journal, Kiswahili, Research in African Literatures, African Languages and Culture, and The Literary Griot as well as a book, Matengo Folktales.

MWENDA MBATIAH holds a Ph.D. from the University of Nairobi where he is a Lecturer in the Department of Kiswahili.

KATWIWA MULE, a Kenyan, is Associate Professor of African and Comparative Literature at Smith College, specializes on African women's drama and has published essays on Mariama Bâ, Penina Mlama, and other Kiswahili women playwrights. He has also translated two plays, Penina Mlama's Nguozo Mama (Mother Pillar), and Amandina Lihamba's Mkutano wa Pili wa Ndege (The Second Conference of Birds).

PIERRE NGIJOL NGIJOL, a Camerounian, holds a Ph.D. in African literature from the University of Bordeaux, France. He is a retired Professore of African languages and literaturees and Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Yaounde, Cameroon. One of his greatest achievements was his pioneering work in making Basaa oral literature accessible to a wider audience by translating it into French. His initiative culminated in the collection, transcription and translation of the epic of Bon ba Hiton, as narrated by the bard Njib Njib of Matomb. In 1980, his dissertation was published in Cameroon as Les Fils de Hitong, by the Centre d'Edition et de Production Pour l'Enseignement et la Recherche (CEPER).

MWENDA NTARANGWI is Director of the St. Lawrence University study abroad program in Kenya. He holds a Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Illinois and has published widely in the areas of gender, popular culture, and study abroad. His current interests include teaching and research in the social sciences in Africa. Ntarangwi's book Gender, Identity and Performance is forthcoming from Africa World Press, New Jersey.

AKINLOYE OJO, a native of Nigeria, received his BA from the University of Ibadan. He holds an MA from Cornell and a PhD in Linguistics from the University of Georgia where he now teaches Yoruba and African Studies. His research interest is in socio-linguistics. His first collection of poems, In Flight was published in 2000.

ZAJA OMBOGA, born in Kenya, is Lecturer in the Department of Kiswahili, College of Education and External Studies of the University of Nairobi, Kenya, where he teaches Kiswahili language and literature and courses in translation. His published translations include the popular Longhorn Reading Scheme for children Books 1-10: Sungura Yuko Hapa, Nyumba ya Sungura, Sungura ni Mbaya, Sungura ya Wapi? Karamu, Ulimbo Langoni, Mwanamke na Malewe, Hadithi za Mamba, Mbawa za Kobe, and Kiundu Akosa Karamu. His book on translation, Mbinu na Stadi za Mawasilano, is currently under review by Longhorn. He has also published a resource handbook for retirees called Ubunifu na Biashara Ndogo Ndogo, Mwongozo kwa Wastaagu (Civil Service Reform Programme, Voluntary Early Retirement Scheme).

REMMY ONGALA was born in 1947 Ramadhani Mtoro Ongala in the extreme East of what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo. Since 1978, he has been living in Tanzania. He labels his type of music "Bongo Beat" and he has proclaimed himself the voice of the downtrodden in Tanzania. He is known for his politically outspoken and socially controversial song lyrics.

THALIA PANDIRI, Editor-in-Chief of Metamorphoses, is Professor of Classics and Comparative Literature at Smith College. She has published numerous translations from Modern Greek and Medieval Latin.

The late OKOT P'BITEK (1931-1982), was one of Africa's leading literary icons. He was born at Guru in Northern Uganda where he received his early education before joining the famous King's College, Budo. He later trained as a teacher at Mbarara Teachers College. He studied Education and law at Bristol in the UK and later Literature and Anthropology at Oxford University. During his long and illustrous university career, he lectured at Makerere and Nairobi where he organized many theatre activities and arts festivals. His best known works include: Song of Lawino: A Lament and Song of Ocol; Song of Malaya, and Song of a Prisoner. He is also the author of African Religion in Western Scholarship, Horn of My Love, Africa's Cultural Revolution and Artist the Ruler.

AARON ROSENBERG is a Ph.D. candidate in Comparative Literature at the Pennsylvania State University. His research is on African dance and music.

MARK SANDERS is Assistant Professor of English and American Literature at Brandeis University. He is the author of Complicities: The Intellectual and Apartheid (Duke University Press, 2002) and his work has appeared in Law Text Culture, Diacritics, and Modern Fiction Studies.

AÏSSATA G. SIDIKOU is Assistant Professor in the Department of Romance Languages and French at Princeton University. Her research focuses on African women's oral narratives and she has recently published Recreating words, Reshaping Worlds: The Verbal Art of Women from Niger, Mali and Senegal (Africa World Press, 2001).

ADAM SMALL, a prolific South African writer, has to his credit several plays, collections of poetry, and philosophical treatises. His works have been translated into French, Dutch, and German, and his plays have been performed in South Africa and the USA. Born in 1936, he retired recently from his position as Senior Professor and Head of the Department of Social Work at the University of the Western Cape. In the early 1990's, Small was awarded the Order of Excellent Service (Gold) by then President de Klerk and was selected for membership in the South African Academy of Science and Art. His publications include: Krismis van Map Jacobs (1983); Heidsee (1978); The Orange Earth (Drama, 1978); Joanie Galant-hulle (1978); Oh Wide and Sad Land (Poetry; 1973); Oos Wes Tuis Bes Distrik Ses (1967); Se Sjibbolet (1965); Kitaar My Kruis (1963); Die Eerste Steen (1961); Klein Simbool (Poetry, 1958); Verse van die Liefde (1957).

PAMELA J. OLÚBÙNMI SMITH is Associate Professor at the University of Nebraska at Omaha where she teaches English Composition, Humanities and Women's Studies courses in the Goodrich Scholarship Program and in the English Department. She holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature and her research interests are in translation. Yorùbá language and literature, Anglophone and Francophone African and Caribbean literatures and Commonwealth literature. She is currently Secretary of the Association of African Women Scholars.

ZUHURA SWALEH was born in Karai near Nairobi in 1947, and is the first female musician in Kenya to cut a taarah music album (1982). She has toured in East Africa, Europe and the Arab Gulf; currently she lives in Kisauni, Mombasa where she continues to perform.

KATRINA DALY THOMPSON is a Kiswahili instructor and Ph.D. student in the Department of African Languages and Literature at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She specializes in Zimbabwean and Tanzanian literatures and popular cultures. For the past five years she has been the Editor of Voices: The Wisconsin Review of African Languages and Literatures.