200 years after the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade and 50 years after the emergence of the first independent African nation, creative writers and scholars gathered in Burlington, Vermont, to debate the state and global relevance of African and African diaspora writers in the 21st century. The papers that make up this volume were selected from a pool of more than 450 presented at the conference and they reflect the central tone of the debate as far as the theme of globalisation in African literature is concerned.