Margaret Ann Reid,  a native of Cheraw, South Carolina, received her B.A. in English from Morgan State College, her M.A. in English from the University of Iowa, her M.L.A in Literature from the Johns Hopkins University, and her Ph.D. in English from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. She serves on the editorial boards of many academic journals, and publishes on the literature of African Americans and African women. A former Fulbright-Hays Scholar and Professor of English at Morgan State University, Dr. Reid did summer study in Kenya and Tanzania. Dr. Reid is the author of Black Protest Poetry: Polemics from the Harlem Renaissance and from the Sixties (Peter Lang, 2002).

Najat Rahman is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Comparative Literature at the University of Montreal, specializing in Arabic and Francophone literature, and her research interests include translation, poetry, and nationalism. Dr. Rahman has written numerous articles on gender and her publications include essays on Assia Djebar, poetic translations of Mahmoud Darwish and Al Bayyati, and reviews of the work of Rachid Al Daif, Amin Maalouf and Leila Sebbar. Dr. Rahman is co-editor of a forthcoming critical edition (by Interlink Press) on the work of the poet, Mahmoud Darwish.

Pierre-Damien Mvuyekure is an Associate Professor at the Department of English and literature at the University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, IA. His research areas include African American literature and culture, rap and hip-hop music, African literature, culture, religion and dance aesthetics. Also a poet, he is editor of World Eras (volume 10): West African Kingdoms 500-1590 (Gale 2004). He currently serves as Coordinator for State Chairpersons and Area Coordinators of NAAS.

Marlene De La Cruz-Guzmán is Assistant Dean for Intercultural Programs at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. A native of Guatemala, she holds an M.A. in Literature from Michigan State University and a B.A. in Literature and Theology from Barry University. Her research interests include third wave feminist theory, sub-Saharan African women writers, and the work of Yvonne Vera, in particular. She is currently conducting research in Southern Africa for a forthcoming project.

Lena M. Ampadu is Associate Professor at the Department of English Towson University. She has scholarly essays published in Callaloo, Composition Studies, African American Rhetoric(s): Interdisciplinary Perspectives, and Journal of the Association for Research on Mothering. Her current research interests include the rhetoric of nineteenth-century African American women and oral traditions in the literature of women of African descent.

Ramenga Mtaali Osotsi (Ph.D.) is of the department of English, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA. Originally from Kenya, Dr. Osotsi taught for many years at University of Nairobi, Kenyatta University, and Maseno University. Currently, she serves as the Director of the World Literature Minor -- a joint program of the Department of English and the Department of Foreign Languages and literature of the James Madison University.

Blessing Diala-Ogamba has a Ph.D. in English from the Federal University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria, an M.E. from Worchester State College Massachusetts, an M.A. and a B.A. Education/English from the University of Calabar, Nigeria. She is presently Assistant professor in the Department of Humanities and Media Arts at Coppin State University, Baltimore, Maryland.

Gloria Ifeoma Chuku (Ph.D.) is an Associate Professor of History at Millersville University of Pennsylvania. She has published numerous articles in national and international journals including the Journal of Archaeological Association of Nigeria, Journal of Rural Development and Administration, African Economic History, UFAHAMU. Dr. Chuku also contributed a chapter tot he book, Troubled Journey: Nigeria Since the Civil War.

Deirdre Bucher Heistad is an Asiistant professor of French and Francophone Studies at the University of Northern Iowa. She received her Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary French Studies from the University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign in 2000. Focusing her research on Francophone women writers, recent publications include "Evelyne Accad, (fémi) humaniste" (co-authored with Cynthia Hahn of Lake Forest College) in Revue des lettre et de Traduction, "Beyond Mariana Bâ: Senegalese Women Writers in the Classroom" in Women in French Studies, and "Entretien avec Fouad Laroui" in CELAAN Review. She is currently editing a book -- "Evelyne Accad: Explorations."

M'baré N'gom (Ph.D., Paris-Sorbonne) is Professor of Spanish and Latin American Studies/French and Francophone Studies and the Chairperson of the Department of Foreign Languages, and Director of the African Studies Program. His articles have appeared in many international journals. He is the author of Diálogos con Guinea: panorama de la literatura guineoecuatoriana de expresión castellana a través de sus protagonistas (Madrid 1996), and co-author of Literatura de Guinea Ecuatorial (Antologia) (Madrid 2000). He has traveled, studied, and lived in Africa, Europe, South America, and Central America.

Acknowledgments
 Editing this anthology has been a challenging and enriching experience.  I thank the scholars who submitted the essays that make up this book:   Gloria Chuku, Ramenga Mtaali Osotsi,  Margaret A. Reid, Pierre-Damien Mvuyekure, Najat Rahman, Deirdre Bucher Heistad,  M'bar N'Gom, Blessing Diala-Ogamba, Marlene de la Cruz-Guzmn and Lena Ampadu. Many of these notable scholars  worked really  hard to satisfy the parameters set out for this study.  

As usual, I express my undying gratitude to my husband Sebastian Okechukwu Mezu, poet, novelist, Pan-Africanist  scholar, publisher, political theorist, businessman - genius and Renaissance man -- without whose encouragement I would have abandoned this work because of its scope and complexity.  Time and again, he would push and push until I would dust off and go back to work. Certainly, it is largely because of his unflagging commitment to excellence and completion which his name, Mezu, symbolizes, that this anthology has come to fruition. 

Source: Rose Ure Mezu, ed. A History of Africana Women's Literature. Baltimore: Black Academy Press, 2004

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Other essays by Dr. Rose Ure Mezu:

An Africana Blueprint for Living in the 3^rd Millennium Global Community¹: An Essay

Pope John Paul II: A Life with a Mission: A Mission of Grace and Moral Strength

A History of Africana Women's Literature   (Introduction)

Africana Women: Their Historic Past and Future Activism