Poet, linguist, editor and human rights activist, he was born in Malawi in 1944. He was head of the English department at the University of Malawi and is currently a professor at the University of Newcastle.

Under the dictatorship of Hastings Kamuzu Banda, the long arm of the law fell on Jack Mapanje at the end of the eighties, for publishing a collection of political poems called From chameleons  to gods. The author was sentenced to three and a half years in prison and was released in 1991. Although Mapanje was never formally dismissed from his post, he was told he would have to earn his job. In the end the poet left Malawi and now lives in England.

Amongst his work we must highlight: Of chameleons and gods , Rotterdam International Poetry Award, (1988); The chattering wagtails of Mikuyu Prison (1993); Skipping without ropes (1998); Oral poetry from Africa: an anthology (1983); Summer fires: new poetry of modern Africa (1983); and The African writers' handbook (1999).

For his contribution to African poetry and defending human rights, he received the Fonlon-Nichols Award in 2002, from the Association of African Literature in the United States.

Sources:

Biographical data on the website The Poetry Archive

Information on the website University of Newcastle

More information:

Biographical data on Contemporarywriters.com

Books on Google Books