Author Archives
A series of Guest Author posts that open our conversations.
For more info, bios and links about each of our AiW Guests, scroll to the foot of their individual posts.
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Review: The Renegade Poet, ‘Femi Morgan, coming through ‘The Year of Fire’
AiW Guest: Ugochukwu Anadị. ‘Femi Morgan’s most recent collection The Year of Fire (Baron’s Cafe, 2021) is a poetry of lamentations, of anger, and of defiant resilience. Forming itself around (re)negotiations, of the self and space, the slim volume of… Read More ›
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Q&A: Professor Ghirmai Negash – Literatures of the Horn of Africa, a conversation series
AiW Guests Interviewers: Mollie McGing, Julia Karpinska, Abolaji Oshun, Alsadiq Suliman Interviewee: Ghirmai Negash Interview Date: 14th December 2021. AiW note: This is one in a series of interviews carried out by undergraduate students as part of the module “Ethiopian,… Read More ›
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Q&A: Dr Fiori Berhane – Literatures of the Horn of Africa, a conversation series
AiW Guests Interviewers: Emily Bhanu, Madeleine Butler, Madeeha Sharief, Eleanor Walker Interviewee: Dr Fiori Berhane Interview Date: 7th January 2022. AiW note: This is one in a series of interviews carried out by undergraduate students as part of the module… Read More ›
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Q&A: Professor Nadia Nurhussein – Literatures of the Horn of Africa, a conversation series
AiW Guests Interviewers: Kyra Webb, Sophia Dermetzis and Kal Harris Interviewee: Professor Nadia Nurhussein Interview Date: 7th December 2021. AiW note: This is one in a series of interviews, carried out by undergraduate students as part of the module “Ethiopian,… Read More ›
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Review Q&A: with author Ever Obi – Some Angels Don’t See God (2022)
AiW Guests: Tọ́pẹ́-ẸniỌbańkẹ́ Adégòkè with author Ever Obi. This Q&A and twinned review, “The Past Is Never Dead” – both by our AiW Guest, traveller, literary critic and writer Tọ́pẹ́-ẸniỌbańkẹ́ Adégòkè – may contain spoilers, but these are kept to the… Read More ›
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Review: The Past Is Never Dead – Ever Obi’s ‘Some Angels Don’t See God’
AiW Guest: Tọ́pẹ́-ẸniỌbańkẹ́ Adégòkè. AiW note: Our Guest Reviewer,Tọ́pẹ́-ẸniỌbańkẹ́ Adégòkè, reviews Ever Obi’s second novel, a book which tackles the difficult and taboo subjects entangled around incestuous child sexuality in the home. Accompanying the review today is Adégòkè’s Q&A with… Read More ›
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Spotlight on… Afrobeats ascendant – into 2023
AiW Guest: Sanya Osha. Afrobeats is arguably a musical genre that initially evolved tied to the apron strings, albeit tenuously, of the magnificent legacy of Nigeria’s Fela Kuti – but one that has nonetheless managed to find its own direction… Read More ›
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Q&A – #ReadingAfrica: African Literary Magazine Editors on Curating for the Continent
With AiW Guests: Nzube Nlebedim – The Shallow Tales Review, Mazi Nwonwu – Omenana Magazine, and Kenechi Uzor – Iskanchi Magazine, interviewed by SarahBelle Selig of Catalyst Press. AiW note: #ReadingAfrica Week is an annual celebration of African literature held the… Read More ›
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Refocusing Le Retour: Three Franco-Senegalese Works
AiW Guest: Sebastian Boivin. In an increasingly dynamic and interconnected geopolitical and socioeconomic landscape, so many of us think about the journey of migrants; fewer about their return. Work regarding the topic, including in francophone text from Africa, has focused… Read More ›
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Review: “Growing up lesbian in Nigeria”: Unoma Azuah’s “Embracing My Shadow”
AiW Guest: Pernille Nailor. Written in a clear and powerful language that commands our immediate attention, Unoma Azuah’s latest publication, Embracing My Shadow, is a moving and powerful memoir focusing on the author’s experiences of growing up as lesbian in… Read More ›
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Q&A: Mukoma Wa Ngugi – teasing out the Tizita, and probing poetry and prizes
AiW Guests: Meriel Clode, Lisa Walker, Antonia Cheema-Grubb & Harriet Lewis. Mukoma Wa Ngugi is a US-based Kenyan writer, who was born in Illinois and grew up in Nairobi. He is the author of eight books including crime novels Nairobi… Read More ›
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Q&A: George Norman Sylvester – Ananse comics, Captain Pepsodent and African superheroes in 1990s Ghana
AiW Guest: Tessa Pijnaker. This post forms part of an Africa in Words’ series on African superheroes, guest edited by Tessa Pijnaker, PhD student in African Studies and Anthropology at the University of Birmingham. This sixth post in the series… Read More ›
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Review: “What language is he speaking?” – Musicians Abroad in Jamal Mahjoub’s ‘The Fugitives’
AiW Guest: Camilla Delhanty Jamal Mahjoub’s The Fugitives (Canongate, 2021) is a novel in three parts, detailing the reformation of the fictional Khartoum jazz band, the Kamanga Kings. We open with protagonist, Rushdy, son of a late member of the… Read More ›
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The illusion of choice: a review of “Five Years Next Sunday” by Idza Luhumyo – AKO Caine Prize shortlist 2022 reviews
AiW Guest: Yamikani Mlangiza (Malawi) AiW note: Today’s post is the fifth in our annual guest reviews of the 2022 AKO Caine Prize 5 shortlisted stories. We’ll also be publishing Q&As with the shortlisted authors and, as in our previous years… Read More ›
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“Sacks tied around our necks”: Joshua Chizoma’s ‘Collector of Memories’ – AKO Caine Prize shortlist 2022 reviews
AiW Guest: Innocent Akilimale Ngulube (Malawi) AiW note: The penultimate in our annual guest reviews of the 2022 AKO Caine Prize 5 shortlisted stories runs today. We’ll also be publishing Q&As with authors and others working with this year’s Prize,… Read More ›
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‘Till Death Do Us Part’: A Review of ‘When a Man Loves a Woman’ by Nana-Ama Danquah – AKO Caine Prize shortlist 2022 reviews
AiW Guest: Joseph Kwanya (Kenya) Today’s post is the third of our annual guest reviews of the 5 stories shortlisted for the award in 2022. We’ll also be running Q&As with authors and others working with this year’s Prize, all… Read More ›
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The glue that binds: Hannah Giorgis’ “A Double-Edged Inheritance” – AKO Caine Prize shortlist 2022 reviews
AiW Guest: Megan Brune (South Africa) AiW note: we’ve been holding a series of critical conversations around the work of the Caine Prize, now the AKO Caine Prize, each year since we first joined its “blogathon carnival” back in 2013…. Read More ›
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Q&A: On the NLNG Prize for Literary Criticism – Tọ́pẹ́-ẸniỌbańkẹ́ Adégòkè talks with 2020/21 prize winner, Uchechukwu Peter Umezurike
AiW Guests: Tọ́pẹ́-ẸniỌbańkẹ́ Adégòkè and NLNG Prize for Literary Criticism winner 2020/2021, Uchechukwu Peter Umezurike. AiW note: We are very pleased to be able to share this conversation between writers and literary journalists, particularly for Adégòkè’s focus in on some… Read More ›