PhD Comparative Literature, Erasmus Mundus Masters Crossways in Cultural Narratives, Bachelor of Arts in Bilingual Studies, DIPES 1 Bilingual Letters
Genre
Poetry, Short Fiction, Children's Literature
Notable works
Constimocrazy: Malafricanising Democracy, Bites of Insanity, Les Pleurs du mal
Nsah Mala (born Kenneth Toah Nsah) is a Cameroonian poet,[1][2] writer,[3] author of children's books and researcher-scholar.[4][failed verification] He writes in English, French, and Iteanghe-a-Mbesa (
Mbesa language).[5]
Biography
Early life and education
Born in Mbesa (also Mbessa), Nsah Mala did his primary education in CBC School Mbesa.
He wrote his first play in Form Two in Government Secondary School (GSS) Mbessa, and obtained his General Certificate of Education (GCE) Ordinary Level in 2007. He did high school education in CCAST Bambili where he obtained his
GCE Advanced Level in 2009, emerging as the national overall best candidate in Literature in English which earned him an award from the Cameroon Association of English-Speaking Journalists (CAMASEJ).[6][7]
After working as postdoctoral researcher at
Radboud University (
Netherlands), Nsah was recruited as a postdoctoral teaching and research fellow at
Université de Lille (
France).[19][20] Nsah Mala was seleted as a 2023 Next Generation Foresight Practitioner (NGFP) Fellow at the School of International Futures in the
United Kingdom for a project on the Congo Basin.[21]
Writing career
Nsah Mala wrote his first play in the second year (Form Two) of secondary education at GSS Mbessa.[22] He published his first poetry collection entitled Chaining Freedom in 2012 and has gone on to publish three other poetry collections in English and one in French. He has published three picture books in Cameroon and France while his poems and stories appear in magazines and anthologies.[23][24][5][25][excessive citations]
Constimocrazy: Malafricanising Democracy (2017), his fourth poetry collection, received reviews. Nelson Mlambo described it in Tuck Magazine as "a profound expression of Afro-talent and the personification of an Afropolitan voice."[26] Global Arts and Politics Alliance (GAPA) observed that Nsah Mala "reminds despots that they are a minority and they thrive on using the masses to gain popularity and benefit from power".[27]
In 2016, Nsah Mala's short story "Christmas Disappointment" was one of the ten winners of a competition organised by the Cameroonian Ministry of Arts and Culture.[28][better source needed] In December 2016, his short story "Fanta from America" received a special mention in a competition organised by Bakwa Magazine in Cameroon.[29][30][31][5][32][excessive citations] His French poem "Servants de l'État" received a "mention spéciale du concours littéraire Malraux" (France) in December 2017.[5] He attended the Caine Prize Writers' Workshop in Gisenyi, Rwanda, in March 2018.[33]
In summer 2020, POW! Kids Books acquired world rights (excluding Africa) to Nsah Mala's North American debut picture book entitled What the Moon Cooks to be published in spring 2021.[34]
"“L’action climatique peut-elle redorer l’image de l’Union africaine ?” The Conversation, France.[37]
"Vanishing Insects & Dying Earth: Reflecting on Insects & Soil in Mbessa (Cameroon),” GeoSemantics in ASAP/Journal, 2023.[38]
"There is no such thing as African literature," Kalahari Review, 2023.[39]
"Literature from the Congo Basin offers ways to address the climate crisis," The Conversation, 2022.
[1]
"The virality of letters: the Covid-19 literary archive keeps growing," Corona Times, 2020.
[2]
"Alleged corruption in academic appointments highlights Cameroon's PhD glut," Times Higher Education, 2020.
[3]
"Comment expliquer la timide mobilisation de la jeunesse africaine pour le climat ?" The Conversation, 2019.
[4]
Peer-reviewed articles and book chapters
Nsah, Kenneth Toah. 2023. “Conserving Africa’s Eden? Green Colonialism, Neoliberal Capitalism, and Sustainable Development in Congo Basin Literature.” Humanities 12(3): 38.[40] DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/h12030038
Nsah, Kenneth Toah. 2023. “Our Children Will Fight for the Climate: How Congo-Basin Writers Prophesied the Global Youth Climate Movement.” Electronic Green Journal 48(2023).[41] URL: https://escholarship.org/uc/item/88n2v0wv
Nsah, Kenneth Toah. 2021. "The Ecopolitics of Water Pollution and Disorderly Urbanization in Congo-Basin Plays." Orbis Litterarum.
[5]
Nsah, Kenneth Toah. 2021. "The Return of Bush Fallers: Cameroon Anglophone Fiction Responds to Clandestine Immigration." Postcolonial Text, vol. 16 no. 1, pp. 1–24.
[6]
Nsah, Kenneth Toah. 2020. "Of Dogs, Horses and Buffalos in Cameroon: Companion Animals in Cameroonian Fiction." In Reading Cats and Dogs: Companion Animals in World Literature, eds. F. Besson et al. Lanham: Lexington Books, pp. 169–188. {{ISBN<978-1-7936-1106-2}}.
[7]
Nsah, Kenneth Toah. 2020. "When Trees Scream." DRAMA – Nordic Drama Pedagogical Journal.
[8]
Nsah, Kenneth Toah: 2019. "The Screaming Forest: An Ecocritical Assessment of Le Cri de la forêt." Ecological In(ter)ventions in the Francophone World, eds. Anne-Rachel Hermetet and Stephanie Posthumus, special issue of Ecozon@: European Journal of Literature, Culture and Environment, vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 58–75.
[9]
Nsah, Kenneth Toah. 2018. "'No Forest, No Water. No Forest, No Animals': An Ecocritical Reading of Ekpe Inyang's The Hill Barbers." Ecozon@: European Journal of Literature, Culture and Environment, vol. 9 no. 1, pp. 94–110.
[10]
Nsah, Kenneth Toah. 2017. "Triple Marginality in Cameroon Anglophone Literature." In Rewriting Pasts, Imagining Futures: Critical Explorations of Contemporary African Fiction and Theatre, eds. Victor Gomia and Gilbert Ndi. Colorado: Spears Media Press, pp. 96–110.
ISBN978-1942876182.
[11]
Nsah, Kenneth Toah. 2016. "Cameroon Professors Publish: A Reply to Nwanatifu Nwaco's 'Cameroon: Professors without Publications.'" Voice of Research, vol. 5 no. 2, pp. 53–59.
[12]
Nsah, Kenneth Toah. 2016. "La métamorphose chez Kafka et Darriussecq: Une étude compare." Cahiers ivoiriens d’études comparées, vol. 7, pp. 33–52.
Nsah, Kenneth Toah. 2015. "Eco-cultural Sensitivity in John Nkengasong's Njogobi Festival and Nol Alembong's Forest Echoes." Journal of English Language, Literature and Culture (JELLiC), vol. 4 no. 1, pp. 37–58.
ISBN978-1523331598.
[13]
Nsah, Kenneth Toah. 2015. "Black Prophesies on White Soils and Ears: A Reading of Joyce Ashuntantang's 'The Clairvoyant.'" Modern Research Studies, vol. 2 no. 3, pp. 502–514.