Jack Mapanje was head of the Department of English at the University of Malawi in Malawi, Africa, when arrested in 1987 after his first book of poems, Chameleons and Gods, was banned in Malawi. Imprisoned without trial or charge he was released in 1991 following an international public outcry against his treatment.
In Skipping the Ropes, his third collection, Mapanje writes about his incarceration and release from prison, his exile to England and his return to Africa, reconciliation with his torturers, the role of the African writer, and the continuing liberation struggle in other countries. While often deadly serious, Mapanje's poems are given a skip and a lift by the generosity of spirit and irrepressible humor which helped sustain him through his prison ordeal.
