This chapter serves as an introduction to African Literature in Transition. The edited volume is intended to function as a compendium of histories of selected genres that have emerged in the written literature and other verbal arts of the African continent from at least the beginning of the twentieth century to the early twenty-first century. The introduction analyzes the role of genre as organizing principle for African literary history writ large both in the popular arts and in high literary forms. The primary argument of the chapter is that understanding African literary histories is not simply a matter of creating a record of what has been written and performed, but also a matter of surveying how and why particular types of African-authored texts have become more or less visible at different points in time through an examination of the role of genres. To advance this argument, the introduction focuses on the sub-categories of genre in African literature rather than the broad generic classifications of African literature such as the African novel, African poetry, or African drama. Equally, the chapter juxtaposes genres that are read mainly locally with those that are read both locally and outside Africa.