Lenrie Peters: Trailblazer of Gambian Literature

Dr Lenrie Peters is without doubt the trailblazer of Gambian literature. His poetry has been studied in several schools across Africa yet many Gambian researchers have little or no knowledge of who Peters really was and where his conviction laid. This book is an exploration of Peters’ origins, convictions, ideologies and writings. It is an attempt to help understand who Peters truly was through this rare collection of his statements, essays and short stories. Peters represented the nagging paradox of the poet/writer whose major academic orientation was in the medical sciences. He also reflected the new emerging writer who placed more emphasis on the African woes and challenges rather than restricting himself to the nationalistic approach taken by the counterparts of his era. Through this collection of his works, we discover vividly who Peters truly was and how his orientation was different from the colonial and post-colonial African writers of his time. We will discover that Peters has taken so much from his father, especially the sharp criticism against the coloniser, but a much sharper attack against the post independent leaders who truly failed Africa. This first ever published book on Peters will illuminate him as the pathfinder ushering a new era of writers of his time.