A Survey of African Poetry in the London Times, Sunday Times, Financial Times, the Times Literary Supplement 1865-1985

Antoine-Roger Bolamba was born in 1913 in the Belgian Congo and would become a prominent Congolese poet, journalist, and politician. The colonial government hired him in 1944 to manage its press division, and he was quickly promoted to editor-in-chief of the publication La Voix du Congolais. By 1960, Patrice Lumumba encouraged Bolamba to join his liberal party; Bolamba was appointed the Secretary of State for Information and Cultural Affairs to the independent Congolese government. Though not a prolific writer, Bolamba is considered an important French-language writer in Belgian Africa.