Literature

Togo has a rich oral literature tradition that includes folktales and legends, heroic epics, historical records, battle poems, fairy tales, ritualistic chants, and more. Before the arrival of the Europeans, there was essentially no written literature in the nation. The early 1950s saw the publication of Togo's first literary works. One of the earliest novels set in Togo is frequently cited as David Ananou's Le Fils du fétiche.

About 100 Togolese authors published literary works during the course of about 50 years. In addition to some literary criticism and dissertations on literary subjects, the more than 200 publications include novels, short stories, poems, plays, and memoirs. Leo Frobenius (Bassar and Tem), Komla Agbetiafa and Yao Nambou (Tem), Fusseini Mamah (Kabyé and Ewé), and Gerhard Prilop (Kabyé and Ewé) have all collected and published Togolese folktales and folklore. In 2008 and 2009, the tales of the Tem-Kotokoli of Kolowaré were gathered and documented.