Brings together the voices of several hundred children in Zimbabwe collected through essays and interviews.

The Freedom of Expression Institute is deeply distressed that Jonathan Ball Publishers have taken a decision not to publish Robert Kirby's novel "Songs of the Cockroach" on the basis that defamation action may be taken against the publishers by the Democratic Alliance and other characters (or their families) mentioned in the novel.

Executive Editor: Salome Misana, Editor: Gail V. Karlsson. This book of case studies was prepared as part of a UNDP project entitled "Energy and Women: Generating Opportunities for Development" which was initiated in February 1999 with support from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency and the UNDP's Sustainable Energy Global Programme. The publication looks at critical policy and programme design options to improve women's access to modern energy services based on the lessons learned in the eight case studies presented.

The Centre for the Book is an autonomous project of the National Library of South Africa set up to promote a South African culture of reading and writing. The Centre aims to promote the writing, publishing, reading, marketing and distribution of South African books in order to develop a truly South African literary culture. The core functions of the Centre for the Book are book development, lobbying, raising awarenesss, advocacy and acting as a hub of information and as an advice centre for the book world.
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Mzwakhe Mbuli has one last chance to appeal against his 13-year prison sentence. The Mail & Guardian re-examines the evidence and suggests that there has been a miscarriage of justice.

The book is written by Cape Town-based journalist, editor and labour columnist Terry Bell in collaboration with Dumisa Ntsebeze the human rights lawyer and former head of the investigations unit of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Robert L. Paarlberg
Why haven't more developing countries begun planting GM crops? In poor countries many farmers are far from being fully productive and many citizens must worry more about food availability or food cost than about unconfirmed food safety dangers. In poor countries the development imperative ordinarily trumps issues of environmental precaution. So why has a pattern of policy resistance to GM crops emerged instead? In this original study Robert Paarlberg examines local policy responses to GM crop technologies in four important developing countries: Brazil, India, Kenya, and China. He shows that in the first three of these countries regulatory authorities have not yet given farmers official permission to plant any GM crops. And in China, where farmers have been permitted to plant GM cotton, regulators are still holding back on the release of most GM food and feed crops, even though China's own national agricultural research system has invested a considerable effort in developing such crops. 2001, ISBN 0-8018-6823-8.

This is a first attempt at the philosophical articulation and projection of the Igbo concept of law and the role of law in the traditional environment. In the Igbo traditional setting, the rules of law are uncodified. The author, who teaches philosophy of law and logic at the University of Nigeria, defines the law of a given community as the body of rules recognised as binding by its members. On this concept of law, he has based his attempt to elucidate the philosophical underpinning of those rules recognised in Igbo traditional legal system as law.

Why does conflict deteriorate into violence and war? How does collective memory influence healing and social justice in post-conflict situations? This book brings together a distinguished group of scholars, policy-makers, justice workers and social activists to answer these questions. In a creative engagement with issues of human rights in relation to truth, healing and social justice, they look at how people rebuild broken communities and the tensions between reconciliation and social justice in post-conflict situations. Zed Books, 2001. ISBN: 1856498433

This is a country on the take, disfigured by a core group of senior government officials whose corruption is so malignant that it has metastasized to virtually every level of Angola's public sector, according to diplomats, relief workers, academics and Angolans from all walks of life, says Jon Jeter in the Washintton Post.

The latest information on African art from Africultures.

When King Mswati III, of Swaziland, recorded a track for a gospel album earlier this year, the sensation of a head of state singing holy praises was merely a part of the cresting enthusiasm his country has for the infectious music.

States of Denial is the first comprehensive study of both the personal and political ways in which uncomfortable realities are avoided and evaded. It ranges from clinical studies of depression, to media images of suffering, to explanations of the 'passive bystander' and 'compassion fatigue'. The book shows how organized atrocities - the Holocaust and other genocides, torture, and political massacres - are denied by perpetrators and by bystanders, those who stand by and do nothing. Blackwells, 2001, ISBN: 0745623921.

Two books by Celia Winter Irving, author and art writer, exploring the famed Tengenenge Art Community, crucible of Zimbabwean stone sculpture are being launched by the Book Cafe in Harare, on 29 November. Each book deals with the way of life and art at Tengenenge and reflect the author's 15- year association with Tengenenge as a writer, painter, curator and lecturer. The books are edited by Anne Derges.

The Alternative Trade Network of Nigeria is an NGO based in Jos Nigeria and works with the less privileged rural artisan on product development, quality control, packaging and marketing for the aim of empowering them in a sustainable way. The network was formed in 1996 and currently works with over 65 cooperative groups from all over Nigeria. ATNN is a pioneer member of International Federation for Alternative Trade(ifat).

The Department of Adult Education of the University of Botswana, the Institute for International Cooperation of the German Adult Education Association, and the UNESCO Institute for Education, are cooperating to develop a textbook series entitled AFRICAN PERSPECTIVES ON ADULT LEARNING. The purpose of the series is to provide accessible textbooks to students in Africa studying adult education, especially at the Diploma and Bachelor's degree level. The Series Editorial Board invites the submission of Expressions of Interest by commercial publishers in Africa. Expressions of Interest by African Publishers should be submitted by January 4th, 2002.

Except at the fringes, American popular music has become so bereft of political messages over the past decade that a performance by an outspoken artist like Nigeria's Femi Kuti can seem downright shocking. Kuti repeatedly attacked the Nigerian government and Western democracies that he accused of looking away from corruption in Africa. He also warned of a coming civil war for his homeland. Somehow, though, he and his band of frenetic horn players, exuberant dancers and furious percussionists made political engagement feel like a party.

Eileen Stillwaggon
Houses made of rags and flattened soda cans, filthy water that breeds disease, counterfeit medicines, no access to decent medical care-how can children growing up in such an environment become productive workers contributing to a developing economy? Stunted Lives, Stagnant Economies describes in vivid detail the living conditions of the poor in developing countries and the diseases and injuries that result from this environment of need. Rutgers University Press, 1998.

Elizabeth Francis
Livelihoods in rural Africa are changing in response to disappearing job prospects, falling agricultural output and collapsing infrastructure. This book explains why the responses to these challenges are so different in different parts of Africa. 'Making a Living' uses case studies from commercial farming regions in Kenya, Tanzania and Zimbabwe and from much poorer areas within eastern and southern Africa to give a broad comparative study of rural livelihoods. These case studies reveal how household relations, poverty and gender all play a part in the changing political economy of rural Africa. Routledge, 2000.