It was started in 2003 by Nii Ayikwei Parkes in consultation with the directors of the Poetry Society[1] after he completed a residency there.
Recently, the event's founder Nii Ayikwei Parkes was himself shortlisted for the Commonwealth Prize and the November 2009 featured reader, Nadifa Mohamed won the 2010 Betty Trask Award.
However, in September 2005, the series received funding from the Arts Council of England and began to pay the featured writers an appearance fee.
This development allowed the series to begin flying writers in from abroad to share their work: Helon Habila's appearance at the Royal Festival Hall in 2009 was part of this trend.
Since the New York event held in September 2009, African Writers' Evening appears to be on a path of expansion and collaboration.