And Crocodiles are Hungry at Night

The Malawian poet and linguist Jack Mapanje has a gift for striking titles. And Crocodiles are Hungry at Night (Ayebia, 2011) is the title of his latest book, a memoir (some 20 years in the writing) of his detention without charge or trial on the 25th of September, 1987. He spent the next "three years, seven months, 16 days and more than 12 hours" in Malawi's infamous Mikuyu Prison. He was released on the 10th of May, 1991. He has never received an official explanation for his detention.

Some of Mapanje's other titles are:

• Of Chameleons and Gods (1981), his first collection of poems.
• The Chattering Wagtails of Mikuyu Prison (1993), more poems.
• Skipping Without Ropes (1998), even more poems.
  
• Gathering Seaweed (2002), a collection of African prison writing (selector/editor).
  
• The Last of the Sweet Bananas (2004), poems again.
• Beasts of Nalunga (2007), his latest collection of poems.