Translation, in all of its dimensions, was the theme of the 2001 African Literature Association conference held in Richmond, Virginia. Translation encompasses more than the movement of expression from one language to another, and includes the translating of one culture into another, translating the particularities of historical experience into the broader grasp of humanity, and translating specific personal experience into that broader grasp.

The four African writers whose addresses to the conference are included in this volume—Assia Djebar, Emmanuel Dongala, Nuruddin Farah, and Nadine Gordimer—all speak of this translation of personal experience into breadth of vision.

Of the ten papers in this collection, the first three are concerned with problems in translating language and culture, the next four focus on the African writer as translator, and the last three deal broadly with the way history and culture are translated inter literature. Contributors included in this volume are Andre Djiffack, Gillian Gane, Raoul J. Granqvist, Kwaku A. Gyasi, Olabode Ibironke, Lisa McNee, Philip A. Noss, Michael A. Toler, Ann Elizabeth Willey, and Christopher Wise.

Angelina E. Overvold is Assistant Professor of French at Commonwealth University.

Richard K. Priebe is Professor of English at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Louis Tremaine is Associate Professor of English and International Studies at the University of Richmond.