Original Date: January 19, 2026
In Forest Imaginaries, Edoro examines the politics and ideas about creativity that animate some of the most elaborate and memorable representations of forests in African fiction. The book engages iconic literary landscapes such as Achebe’s evil forest, Tutuola’s endless forest, and the many forests in Mofolo’s Chaka, among others, showing how African novels theorize creativity, power, and imagination through forest spaces. Additional information about the book is available here: https://cup.columbia.edu/book/forest-imaginaries/9780231565073/
About Ainehi Edoro
Ainehi Edoro-Glines is a Nigerian literary scholar who studies African literature and digital culture. She is a Mellon Morgridge Assistant Professor of English and African Cultural Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She is the founder and editor of Brittle Paper, a major news platform on African books and literary culture. Her research explores how stories, in novels and on social media, present new ways of thinking about the art and philosophy of worldmaking. Her first book Forest Imaginaries: How African Novels Think is forthcoming from Columbia University Press in January 2026. and her work has appeared in top academic journals like English Literary History and PMLA, as well as in mainstream platforms like The Guardian, Africa is a Country, Lit Hub, BBC World News, and SABC.