Eighty-three titles added to the James Currey Collection at St Cross College
St Cross is delighted to announce the addition of 83 titles to the James Currey Collection this year, all from the landmark African Writers Series and generously donated from James Currey’s private library. This important addition further enriches the Collection with works of African fiction that broaden the Collection’s representation, as it had previously consisted mostly of academic and other non-fiction works about Africa. The donation strengthens the College’s commitment to supporting global scholarship and widening access to diverse literary traditions.
We warmly thank James Currey for this exceptional gift, which deepens an already unparalleled resource for African Studies and enhances St Cross' role in championing boundary-crossing research.
The James Currey Collection, housed primarily in the Douglas and Catherine Wigdor Room, is an exceptional resource for African scholarship and one that St Cross College is privileged to steward. Its establishment was made possible through the vision and commitment of many individuals, in particular St Cross Fellows Wendy James and Jan-Georg Deutsch; Douglas Johnson; former librarian Sheila Allcock; Boydell & Brewer; and James Currey himself. We are grateful for their tenacity and support.
Thanks to our agreement with Boydell & Brewer, St Cross Library receives a copy of every new title published under the James Currey imprint until 2027. To date, ours is the only collection to hold every James Currey title published since the imprint’s founding in 1985.
About James Currey
James Currey was a transformative figure in African publishing who helped bring novels, plays, and poems by many writers born on the African continent to English-language readers. During his tenure at Heinemann Educational Books he worked alongside Chinua Achebe, together adding over 250 titles to the landmark African Writers Series.
His career in publishing began at the Cape Town branch of Oxford University Press and grew through his work with The New African, a liberal journal he followed into exile in Britain following its suppression by Apartheid authorities. Over the course of his career, Currey has worked with many influential writers such as Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o (born James Ngugi), Bessie Head, Wole Soyinka, Es'kia Mphahlele (born Ezekiel Mphahlele), and Dennis Brutus.
In 1984 he and Clare Currey founded James Currey Publishers, which quickly became the leading imprint dedicated to African Studies, which it remains today. From its inception, the press has been committed to publishing books on Africa with a particular focus on African authors, and to ensuring that these works are accessible across the continent.
The James Currey Collection at St Cross stands as a testament to this extraordinary legacy: a comprehensive record of a publisher who reshaped global access to African literature and scholarship, and whose influence continues to shape African Studies today. The recent donation of the African Writers Series titles further enriches this legacy, ensuring the Collection remains a vibrant research and teaching resource for generations to come.
