The 34th Annual African Literature Association Conference
April 22 - 27, 2008

African Literature Association Awards

We are happy that we will be presenting two awards at this year's conference. The two awards are the Fonlon-Nichols Award and the Life Achievement Awards.

The Fonlin-Nichols Award

Bernard FONLON was a teacher, writer, editor of literary journals, and head of the African Literature Department at the University of Yaoundé. He passionately defended human rights in an often oppressive political atmosphere. When this noted Cameroonian man of letters died in 1986, a group of his friends from around the world decided to seek an appropriate way of honoring his memory.

Mobilized largely by Stephen Arnold (then Director of the Research Institute for African and Caribbean Literature -- RICLAC -- at the University of Alberta), these friends of Bernard Fonlon contributed to a memorial fund in his name. These contributions were matched by the Provincial Government of Alberta (Canada).

At about this time Lee Nichols announced his retirement. Nichols is a journalist whose positions in support of human rights and against racism are especially known among scholars of African literature for his historic Voice of America reports on the development of African literatures from the sixties to the present.

The executive committee of RICLAC felt it would be appropriate to associate his name to that of Bernard Fonlon, both having shared a commitment to democratic ideals, humanistic values, and literary excellence in Africa.

At its 1993 meeting in Guadeloupe, the Executive of the African Literature Association resolved that the Award be conferred regularly at the annual meetings of the ALA.

Lifetime Achievement Award

Call for Nominations – ALA Fonlon-Nichols Award

The ALA Executive Council invites Nominations from the world Africanist community for the Fonlon-Nichols Award for excellence in creative writing and contributions to the struggle for human rights and freedom of expression. It is given every year to an African writer. 

The Award was established in 1992 to honor Bernard Fonlon and Lee Nichols for their own contributions to both African literature and freedom of expression. This year the award will be publicly presented at the 34th annual conference of the African Literature Association to be held in Western Illinois University, Macomb, Illinois April 22 - 27, 2008.  

Life Achievements Award Winners