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(These notes were gathered in 2003 and are still under review. Both Nana Grey-Johnson and Dr Tijan Sallah have since published more books, and these will feature in our reviews subsequently)
Gabriel J. Roberts (1929- )
Gabriel J. Roberts was born in 1926 in Bathurst (Banjul). He studied in Great Britain, where he obtained a Masters' Degree and a Post-graduate Diploma in Education. A renowned educationist, Roberts rose to the position of Director of Education. From 1995 to 1997 and from 2000 to 2005, he was the first Chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC).
Gambian drama was introduced to an Anglophone audience thanks to Gabriel J. Roberts. The BBC awarded him a Literary Prize. Mr Roberts is also a poet and a novelist.
The Trial of Busumbala is a piece of drama written in 1971. We were in 1962, Maxwell Armitage, principal of Armitage School and a Member of the House of Representatives, is suing Marafan Busumbala for the theft of his radio set. The investigation will soon show that the plaintiff's hands are far from clean. This piece of drama is a satyr that also shows campus life. This is precisely what the play is all about: a principal either abusing his privilege as principal and turns on his radio very loud with no care for the welfare of the neighbouring teachers or blindly selfish. Marafan Busumbala's theft is justified as the court will rule out that it was done in the general public's interest.
The Goosieganderan Myth, written in 1988, is a novel of 163 pages. The novel takes up the theme of his play A Coup is Planned, written in 1971 and always rewritten as a play entitled The Senegambian Myth. The union between The Gambia and Senegal is transposed to two imaginary countries known as Goosie, depicting the Gambia, under the leadership of Lady Sabrina, and Gandera depicting Senegal headed by Dynamic. The two are united by the deep love they have for each other at a personal level. Politically, however, their relationship will be complicated, especially with the army trying to convince Dynamic that Goosie is a small country that does not deserve to be an independent state but a part of Gandera. The army will take advantage...