num_pages: 238
description: Because he was a radical poet Jack Mapanje was imprisoned without trial or charge by the dictator Hastings Banda of Malawi for nearly four years. The themes of his poetry range from the search for a sense of dignity and integrity under a repressive regime incarceration release from prison exile and return to Africa and reconciliation with torturers to the writer in Africa and the continuing African liberation struggle in a hostile world. While often deadly serious Mapanje's poems are lifted by the generosity of spirit and irrepressible humour which helped sustain him through his prison ordeal.
language: English
title: The Last of the Sweet Bananas: New and Selected Poems
publisher: Bloodaxe Books