Nwaanyizie

The twenty poems in this collection are presented in both Igbo and English. In conception and presentation, it seeks to further the use of indigenous languages as the medium of writing the literatures of African peoples. The poems deal with the realities of life for the African women, described as a feminist journey into womanhood; they deal with the woman's role, aspirations, and experiences as mother, widow, heroine, the sexually abused and the battered, but also with a focus on humanity and the environment. The poems are informed by the author's work concerning gender as important in the understanding of the dynamics of relationships of the institutions that make up society. Frances Ngozi Chukwukere is the Head of the Department of Linguistics and Igbo Studies at Imo State University, Nigeria. She is a member of the Advisory Board of the Women's Resource Centre at the University.