Africa Writes Back to Self is a solid contribution its emphasis on texts written in local African languages makes it particularly useful. Its combination of reading established African writers alongside more locally known authors provides an uncommon insight into East African literature, making it good reading for scholars wishing to broaden their horizons on various aspects of contemporary African literature. H-Net Reviews (H-Africa)

Evan Maina Mwangi, drawing from a rich selection of contemporary African novels, and attentive to their local histories, and sensitive to the nuances of linguistic and cultural translation, offers a bracing, nuanced, and yet surprisingly obvious thesis Africa Writes Back to Self is deeply pedagogical it reflects not only on what should be taught, but also on how it should be taught. Research in African Literatures

Mwangi effectively reinforces the familiar argument that early nationalist texts metafictional critique of European discourse about Africa masked profound gender chauvinism [a] fine and wide-ranging book. African Studies Quarterly

Mwangi is astonishingly well read in English and in several East African languages, and this volume covers both literary and popular writing and novels known regionally as well as internationally.