Oral Traditions
Angola’s vibrant literary culture stems from a strong tradition of oral story telling that has made the country’s tales accessible to the most remote communities. The tradition comes from people who worked in the fields and who at the end of the day would sit around the fire or a table to hear stories, proverbs and riddles.

Some of the greatest works that were produced both pre-independence and post-independence were and are based on day-to-day events that always provide writers with plenty of material to explore.

The Birth of Angolan Literature
Angolan literature began during the colonial times, when our literature emerged and developed as an extension of the Portuguese. Until the mid twentieth century there are no clear demarcations of a so called Angolan literature.

The first native medium totally dedicated to literature, the Almanach - Essays in Literature was published in 1901. The almanach was printed in Luanda at the People's Typography. The 1^st edition featured the volume Angolan Voices Clamouring on the Desert — From the Natives to Friends of the Truth, a collaboration work of several native and African journalists who influenced Luanda's press in the nineteenth century. This was the first collective protest manifest of the local society against the Portuguese rulers.

The novel, The Deadwoman's Secret by António de Assis Júnior, was published in 1934. It was a book that would later be established as the pioneering work in Angolan prose fiction.

Affirmation period: 1944 - 1974
1945 unveiled the rising of a cultural conscience focused on nationalization and willingness to add new meaning to the local art of story telling. A group called "Let's Discover Angola" emerged in Luanda in 1948. Its mission was to motivate the young generation of writers to get to know all aspects of Angola.

The romance, Dying Land by Castro Soromenho, was published in Brazil in 1949. It was a literary work that disclosed the effects of the Portuguese colonization in Angola.

The 1950s marks the clear existence of a literary elite made of poets and novelists. By dodging government censorship of the press they managed to establish the foundations for Angolan literature. With a few exceptions the 1950s favored in-country writing and publishing of poetry rather than of novels or prose.

By early 1951 magazines and college newspapers featured essays by Angolan novelists and poets whose influences were the neo-realist trends in literature, cinema and in the arts made popular after the end of World War II.