Creative Works
Drama and Other Publications by Tess Onwueme:
Published Plays
- 2016: The Collected Plays of Tess Onwueme: Vol. One. New Jersey: Book Baby Publishers.
- 2014: Revised edition of Then She Said It. USA & Ibadan: International Images Net.
- 2006: Shakara: Dance Hall Queen (Second Edition). New York & London: African Heritage Press/African Books Collective, Oxford, UK.
- 2006: Riot in Heaven: a play (Second Edition). New York & London: African Heritage Press/African Books Collective, Oxford, UK.
- 2005: NO Vacancy: a play. Trenton, New Jersey. Africa World Press.
- 2003: What Mama Said: an epic drama. Detroit: Wayne State University Press.
- 2002: The Missing Face: revised edition. San Francisco: African Heritage Press, Ltd. in affiliation with the African Books Collective, Oxford, United Kingdom.
- 2002: Then She Said It! (a play). San Francisco: African Heritage Press in affiliation with the African Books Collective, Oxford, United Kingdom.
- 2000: Why the Elephant Has No Butt: a novel. San Francisco: African Heritage Press, Ltd. in affiliation with the African Books Collective, Oxford, United Kingdom.
- 1997: Tell It to Women: an epic drama (with Foreword by Ngugi Wa Thiong’o). Detroit: Wayne State, University Press. * Winner of the 1995 Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) Prize in Drama.
- 1997: Riot in Heaven (a play), New York: Africana Legacy Press.
- 1993: Three Plays: An Anthology of Three Plays, Detroit: Wayne State Univ. Press.
- 1991: Parables for a Season (a play), Ibadan: Heinemann Educational Books.
- 1989: Legacies (a play), Ibadan, Nigeria: Heinemann Educational Books.
- 1988: The Reign of Wazobia and Other Plays, Ibadan, Nigeria: Heinemann Educational Books.
- 1987: Mirror for Campus (a play), Owerri, Nigeria: Leadway Communications, Nig. Ltd.
- 1986: Ban Empty Barn and Other Plays, Ibadan, Nigeria: Heinemann Educational Books.
- 1986: A Scent of Onions (a play), Owerri, Nigeria: Totan Publishers, Ltd.
- 1985: The Desert Encroaches (a play), Owerri, Nigeria: Heins Publisher Ltd. *Winner, 1985 Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) Award in Drama.
- 1984: The Broken Calabash (a play), Owerri, Nigeria: Totan Publishers Ltd.
- 1983: A Hen Too Soon (a play), Owerri: Heins Publishers Ltd.
Scholars Study Onwueme's Works
Sample Scholarly Studies, Doctoral Dissertations, Books, Articles and Journal Publications on Tess Onwueme's Works:
Eke, Maureen. Ed.
Emerging Perspectives on Tess Osonye Onwueme. Women, Youth and Eco-Literature. New Jersey: Africa World Press (forthcoming 2020 Fall).
Ako, Ako.
“Politics and Gender in Nigerian Drama: A Study of Select Plays of Tess Onwueme…” Doctoral Dissertation on the Plays of Tess Onwueme, Benue State University, Makurdi, Benue State, Nigeria, 2017.
Mesang Etame, Agnes.
“Dialectics and Commitment in African Drama: The Dramatic Vision of Osonye T. Onwueme’s Then She Said it and Llonney E. Monono’s Beyond the Promise”. Dissertation, University of Buea English Dept., Cameroun Univ. 2016.
“De- Narrativising the Meta-Narrative of Patriarchy in Gender Politics in African Drama. The Case of Butake and Osonye Tess Onwueme’s Drama, London Journal Press. Vol 19 (5), 2019.
Marzette, Delinda.
“Who Measures the Power of Woman in Spoons and Scales: women’s Worth in Tell it to Women;” & her Doctoral Dissertation on Womanist Identity in African Diasporic Literary Works & Analysis of Tess Onwueme’s Drama” from the English Department, Houston University.
Iwuchukwu, Onyeka.
“Revolutionaly Trend in Female Creativity: A Study of Tess Onwueme’s Plays”; & Doctoral Dissertation on Tess Onwueme’s Creative Drama from the University of Lagos English Dept., 2009; 2013.
“Messianic Heroism in Tess Onwueme’s Wazobia, AJELLS, Awka Journal of English Lang. & Lit Studies. UNIZIK, Awka. Vo. 5. No (1) 2014.
“Racism and Identity Crisis in Tess Onwueme’s Riot in Heaven,” CLCweb: Comparative Literature and Culture, Purdue University, 15 (1). 2013.
“Monkey dey Work. Baboon dey Chop: The Way Tess Onwueme Sees it in Then She Said It.” Abraka Humanities Review. Vol. 1. (2005) 53-64.
“ Mechanism: A Study of Tess Onwueme’s The Desert Encroaches and Ban Empty Barn,” in Arts and Humanities Quarterly, UNIZIK, Vol. 1 (1) July 2004 11-18.
Onochie, Bridget.
“Women Empowerment for National Development: A Womanist Reading of Tess Onwueme’s Selected Plays.” Doctoral Dissertation on Tess Onwueme’s Creative Drama from the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Performance/Theatre Dept., 2015.
Ajayi, Omofolabo.
“Who Can Silence Her Drums? An Analysis of the plays of Tess Onwueme.” African Theatre: Women. Eds. Martin Banham, James Gibbs, et al. [Leeds University, School of English Journal publication], 2002. Pp. 109-121.
Amkpa, Awam.
“Tess Onwueme: Theatre, Gender, and Power.” [Chapter 3] Theatre and Postcolonial Desires. New York: Routledge, 2004.
Amuta, Chidi.
“The Nigerian Woman as a Dramatist: The Instance of Tess Onwueme.” Nigerian Female Writers: A Critical Perspective, eds., Henrietta C. Otokunefor and Obiageli C. Nwodo. Oxford: Malthouse Press, 1989. Pp. 53-59.
Akpewho, Lucky.
Tess Onwueme’s plays and Feminist Aesthetics in Nigerian Drama, MA Thesis, English Department, University of Port Harcourt, Rivers state, Nigeria, May 2000.
Batra, Kanika.
“Daughters Who Know the Languages of Power: Community, Sexuality, and Postcolonial Development In Tess Onwueme’s Tell It To Women.” Interventions: International Journal of Postcolonial Studies. Vol. 9, 1 (2007), New York: Routledge, 2007. 124-138 (ISSN 1369-801X print/1469-929X online).
Bartlette, Julluette.
“Promoting Empowerment For Women: Women Between Modernity And Tradition In The Works of Tess Onwueme. Ph.D Dissertation, English Department, Houston University, Houston, Texas (May 2001).
“Modernity and Tradition in Tess Onwueme’s Plays. Nigeria in the Twentieth Century. Ed. Toyin Falola. Durham, North Carolina: Carolina Academic Press, 2002. Pp. 799-808.
Dunton, Chris.
Make Man Talk True: Nigerian Drama in English Since 1970. London: Hans Zell, 1992.
“Nigeria and the Diaspora, Solidarities and Discords: The Drama of Tess Onwueme.” Nigeria in the Twentheith Century. Ed. Toyin Falola. Durham, North Carolina. Carolina Academic Press, 2002. Pp. 791-798.
Ebeogu, Afam.
“Feminism and the Mediation of the Mythic in Three Plays by Tess Onwueme,” The Literary Griot, 3 (1) Spring 1991, pp. 97-111.
Eke, Maureen, Ed.
Perspectives on Tess Onwueme’s Writing: Postcolonial Ideology and the Politics of Gender, Women, and Youth in Theatre and Literature, (scheduled for publication by the New Jersey Red Sea Press, 2017/2018).
Evwierhoma, M.
Female Empowerment and Dramatic Creativity in Nigeria. Ibadan: Caltop Publications, Ltd. 2002. (168 pages).
Golus, Carrie.
“Tess Osonye Onwueme,” Contemporary Black Biography, 23 (2003) Ed. David G. Oblender.
Iwuchukwu, Onyeka.
“Revolt in Selected Plays by Tess Onwueme.” Doctoral Dissertation, Submitted to the English Department, University of Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria. 2010.
Jones, Lisa. M.
Global-Cultural Contexts of Tess Onwueme's Plays. M. A. Thesis in Theatre, Leeds University, Leeds, United Kingdom, May 1997.
Jones, Lisa. M.
Global-Cultural Contexts of Tess Onwueme's Plays. M. A. Thesis in Theatre, Leeds University, Leeds, United Kingdom, May 1997.
Kamau, Oliver.
Revolutionary Theatre in Africa: The Example of Tess Onwueme’s Plays, Dissertation submitted to the Theatre Department, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, June 1999.
Katiwiwa Mule.
“Producing Locality: Tess Onwueme’s Archeologies of Knowledge in The Reign of Wazobia and Tell It to Women.” [Book Chapter] Women’s Spaces, Women’s Visions: Politics, Poetics, and Resistance in African Drama, 2007.
Migraine-George, Thérèse.
“African Women on the Global Stage.” African Women and Representation: From Performance to Politics. Trenton: Africa World Press, 2008, 151-198.
“Africa Women “Thinking Global And Acting Local:” Tess Onwueme’s What Mama Said. African Women and Representation: From Performance to Politics. Trenton: Africa World Press, 2008, 157 178.
“Tess Onwueme’s Parables for a Season And The Reign of Wazobia. African Women and Representation: From Performance to Politics. Trenton: Africa World Press, 2008, 69-75.
“Questions to Tess Onwueme: July 13, 2005.” African Women and Representation: From Performance to Politics. Trenton: Africa World Press, 2008, 264-279. Nwachukwu-Agbada,
Nwachukwu - Agbada, J.O.J.
“The Dramatic Works of Tess Onwueme.” Commonwealth Essays and Studies 17 (1995), 31-35.
“Tess Onwueme: Dramatist in Quest of Change.” World Literature Today (Summer 1992), 464-467.
Ngugi wa Thiong'O (1997).
"Critical Reader Response to Tess Onwueme's Drama: Reader's Report," Wayne State Press, Detroit, 1996.
Obafemi, Olu.
“Towards Feminist Aesthetics in Nigerian Drama: The Plays of Tess Onwueme.” African Literature Today 17 (1995), 84-99.
"Tess Onwueme's Iconoclastic Dramas," Nigerian Theatre Since the 1980's. Bayreuth African Studies Bayreuth University, Bayreuth, Germany, July 1997.
“Towards Feminist Aesthetics in Nigerian Drama: The Plays of Tess Onwueme. Critical Theory & African Literature, 19 (1994), 84-100.
Tobrise-Ewheriohoma, Mabel.
Power And Powerlessness in Contemporary Literature: A Case Study of Tess Onwueme's Drama, Ph.D/ Dissertation, English Department, University of Ibadan, Nigeria, May 1995.
Uko, Inibong I.
Gender and Identity in the Works of Osonye Tess Onwueme, Trenton, New Jersey: Africa World Press, 2004. 306 pages.
“Critical Response to Chris Water’s Review of Osonye Tess Onwueme’s Plays,” African Literature Today, (2004).
Uko, L. L.
“African Feminism in the Theatre of Zulu Sofola and Tess Onwueme: A Celebration.” Africana Marbugensia 16 (1996), 4-10. Utudjian,
Elaine Saint-Andre.
“Ghana and Nigeria.” Post-Colonial English Drama: Commonwealth Drama Since 1910, ed., Bruce King. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1992.
“Two Nigerian Dramatists.” Commonwealth Essays and Studies (Dijon) 15 (1992), 96-101.
Sample Critical Studies of Onwueme's Drama