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Death and the King,s Grey Hair and Other Plays is a collection of three plays, ,Death and the King,s Grey Hair,, ,Truce with the Devil,, and ,Fringe Benefits,, which are all experimental plays from the early period of the writing career of Denja Abdullahi, who is presently renowned as a poet of populist expressions. ,Death and the King,s Grey Hair, examines the use and misuse of absolute power based on an ancient Jukun myth of young kings and short reigns. ,Truce with the Devil, is a satire on the later abandonment of the creed of Marxism by its adherents, a kind of mockery of turncoat revolutionaries in the grip of practical social realities. ,Fringe Benefits,, a radio play, is an expose of the happening in Nigeria,s ivory towers, seen from the eyes of a participant-observer.

The author explains his poetic mission thus: 'it is the cultural tradition in my part of the world, that when abominations become unbearable, and the truth must be told with great courage, then the night masquerade appears...in order to set a senseless practice right; sometimes the night masquerade must confront the ruler and point out the nakedness of his utterances...this is the voice of the night masquerade, I am only the medium.' The ensuing collection of poems is divided into three sections: 'Night' - alluding to the night the mother of the spirits walked the length and breadth of the clan, weeping for her murdered son, in 'Things Fall Apart'; 'Night Vigil', and 'Night Passages'. This book was joint winner of the Association of Nigerian Authors' Poetry Prize in 1997.

A concern for social regeneration stands as the factor that animates Soyinka's life-long involvement in social and political activism, leading to hid incarceration for two years during the civil war, and his having to flee into exile during the period of Sani Abacha's dictatorship. Soyinka expresses this same concern for social regeneration in his writings, using difference metaphors. The focus of this work lies in the exploration of the articulations of social regeneration in the works of Wole Soyinka. The first past focuses on the dramatic works, and the argument of the author is that the metaphor adopted by Africa's foremost playwright in articulating his vision of social regeneration is that of ritual. Attention shifts in part two to Soyinka's two novels; and here, Bello goes to the roots of Yoruba metaphysics to fetch a metaphor which describes a creature with contradictory personality; which at once is committed to the regeneration of the social order while at the same time retaining a vindictive, vengeful nature.

Tayo Olafioye is a poet, novelist and scholar, active in Nigeria and the united States. He has won prizes for his volumes of poetry, which include Sorrows of a Town Crier (1988) and Bush Girl Comes to Town (1988). His other publications include The Excellence of Silence, the Saga of Sego (1982) and two works of literary criticism: Responses to Creativity (1988) and critic as Terrorist: Views on New African Writings (1989). His most recent collections are entitled A Carnival of Looters (2000) and The Parliament of Idiots (2002), both published by Kraft Books, Nigeria. This is the author's semi-fictional autobiography, written in the third person, following in the tradition of Camara Laye's African Child, Wole Soyinka's trilogy (Ake, Isara, Ibadan) and Tanure Ojaide's Great Boys: An African Childhood. The narrative describes the author's birth and childhood in Igbotako, education and career at the University of Lagos and at universities in the States. Throughout, the author is concerned with the historical junctures and social and cultural changes in postcolonial Nigeria.

A Nigerian re-working of Shakespeare's Othello, this is an ambitious effort in the tradition of much contemporary Nigerian drama and spirit of cultural exchange to translate the timeless and classic work into the language, cultural reality and settingof the Igbo people. Yerima's play responds to the humanistic values, social and religious sensibilities of the original, reinventing them to speak for different people of a different age. From these perspectives, the play raises questions about the freedom of the individual in society, the nature of collective existence, and whether folly and greatness, jealousy, suspicion, tradition and love can co-exist.

When Major General Jeff Guna got the note, his first feeling was that it was an enemy's bait. A cryptic note: 'Meet me at 9pm...come with a flower, if your love is not dead. Come with a gun if you need to kill me - JAA.' Who is JAA, a man or a woman? Who or what is Major General's love that is supposed to have died - or not: someone he loves, or someone who loves him? Someone he has ceased to love or has tried to kill but who does not die? This is the author's third novel in the Kraft Books fictionseries, his earlier novels being A Poet is a Man (2001) and Moniseks Country (2000).

'My ancestors were minstrels. Their honeyed tongue could weave lyrics out of almost all forms of human interactions and activities. This tradition is encapsulated by the performance of the famous ode poetry prevalent among their descendants, which is presented under numerous kinds of stimuli. Thus the emotional impulses expressed here, the rhetorical modes adopted here and the verbalised rhythmic sequences illustrated here are derived from the minstrel tradition associated with ode poetry performance... The use of alternative poetic models is equally a result of a sophisticated understanding of the forms of performance discernible in other traditions...it is the amalgamation of imaginative narratives, folklore and contemporary concerns... There is no doubt that this cultural model of the minstrel generates abundant inspiration and provides a variety of artistic modes that enable the mind of the poet to distil new chants. I drank from the spring of tradition. My ancestors were minstrels and I have only continued in the same tradition.'

An epic poetic narrative exploring the author's dual experiences of culture and unravelling his Yoruba and English intellectual inheritances.

Oyebode is a Nigerian poet and doctor, living in the UK - factors evident in this selection of his poems, many of which deal with issues of home and exlile, and the poet's place. His root society is his Yoruba homeland. He lives and writes in the foreign culture and belongs to, and is alienated from, aspects of both societies at the same time. His poetic longing is for the root culture - his exile has made the desire to keep the dream of home alive inevitable. On arrival, and England, he writes, 'a malarial lyricism/exiled and unaccompanied by song/arrived on this hostile shore.'The poems are selected, introduced and discussed at length by fellow Nigerian poet and academic, Onookome Okome.

Isiak Aligan is a publisher, journalist and poet. This is his first collection of prose fiction in the short story genre. There are ten tightly constructed stories, focussing sharply on physical and mental aspects of Nigeria. The title story, The Scars of the Moon, relates the sombre psychological experiences of a jaded soldier, Captaion Moses, and his junior, Omolola, at a military preparation camp. The older soldier is trying to confront his past, and now present fears, halluncinations and nightmares. He joined the army against the slavery of thr past at the beginning of the civil war, and yet mental torment, hatred and madness have persisted. The reader may wonder about the present and future psychological scarring of a military way of life - in the context of the story and beyond - as the trauma repeats itself in the younger soldier. He can only find solace in a relationship with a girl who has given up on her body and mind and the world. The work received an honourable mention in the Association of Nigerian Authors' Prose Prize.