Sierra Leonean author Pede Hollist’s classic feminist novel So The Path Does Not Die republished by Narrative Landscape Press this year has been selected by the West African Examination Council (WAEC) as part of its list of recommended African prose.
Originally published in 2008, So the Path Does Not Die is a tender novel exploring the trauma of female circumcision. Long after Fina has left Sierra Leone for America, memories of a broken initiation still haunt her. She longs to return, to find her grandmother, and right the path that has been set for young girls centuries past. Ultimately, the broken path of her childhood brings Fina back to Sierra Leone to a life she had never imagined for herself. The Narrative Landscape edition was published on February 26 this year.
Hollist’s novel will be included in the WAEC’s list of Literature-in-English texts for 2026-2030. About 500,000 students register and sit each year for Literature-in-English at the West African Senior Certificate examinations. To ensure a spread, students have to choose between two options for each genre. This means approximately 250,000 students will read So the Path Does Not Die. Given this background, Narrative Landscape Press expects a bump in sales for the novel across all formats.
Dr Eghosa Imasuen, director of business development at Narrative Landscape Press, said that inclusion of Hollist’s novel will do wonders for African students’ education in African literature:
We have been fans of Pede Hollist from before his story was shortlised for the Caine Prize in 2013, and we are proud of the fact that the examining body found this novel worthy of being presented to a generation of African students as examplary for the study of African prose.
This is a remarkable achievement for Sierra Leonean literature and we are so proud that the WAEC has decided to include this amazing feminist novel within its list of African prose.
Pede Hollist, a native of Sierra Leone, is an associate professor of English at The University of Tampa, Florida. His research focuses on the literature of the African imagination—literary expressions in the African continent as well as in the African Diaspora. So the Path Does not Die is his debut novel. His short story “‘Foreign Aid” was on the shortlist for the 2013 Caine Prize for African Writing.
The novel is now available for purchase. Grab your copy Here
