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.
-
Reflections: Open Book (17-21 September, 2014)
AiW Guest Zukiswa Wanner Arrivals I receive my invitation to Open Book in March 2014. Just the way I like it. It’s a good six months before the Festival and I can mark my calendar accordingly. My itinerary, tickets and… Read More ›
-
Africa 39 in Conversation: Review, Storymoja Festival
AiW Guest Alexander Nderitu Writers from the Africa39 list were in conversation at this year’s Storymoja Festival which took place from 17th to 21st September in Nairobi, Kenya. The young authors, ably moderated by Kenyan academic and literary critic Keguro Macharia, were: Jackee… Read More ›
-
Publishing in Africa and African Studies: Review, ASAUK 2014 (Part 2)
AiW Guest Stephanie Kitchen This post is the second in a two part series reviewing the panels in the Publishing Stream at ASAUK. Read Part 1: the politics of publishing in Africa. Journal publishing The ‘African journals’ roundtable at ASAUK… Read More ›
-
Publishing in Africa and African Studies: Review, ASAUK 2014 (Part 1)
AiW Guest Stephanie Kitchen A stream of five panels at ASAUK considered ‘practical and political aspects of publishing in African studies’. The stream brought together representatives from key publishers on the African continent, both established and newer imprints, including CODESRIA… Read More ›
-
Floating on the Southbank with Mulatu Astatke: Review, Africa Utopia
AiW Guest Lennon Chido Mhishi By the time the music has started playing, I am excited inside already. For a moment my mind is lost somewhere, and I only realise then that there was a solo on the piano, but… Read More ›
-
Random Snapshots Of Book Hunting In Downtown Nairobi: Part I
AiW Guest Mehul Gohil A friend said “I know Mehul bought a bunch of Delany and so on. On the NBO streets.” Another friend thought which streets? Turned to me and asked “Pray tell, Mehul, where did you chance upon… Read More ›
-
Review: Alex Smith’s ‘Devilskein & Dearlove’
‘AiW Guest Kristen Roupenian’ If it has been a long time since you’ve read Frances Hodgson Burnett’s children’s classic The Secret Garden—and if, in the meantime, your memory has been clouded by a series of overly charming movie adaptations—you may… Read More ›
-
The Responsibility of Writing in/for/about South Africa – after the Edinburgh International Book Festival, 2014
AiW Guest: James Smith. During the Edinburgh International Book Festival I managed to catch three South African authors, Lauren Buekes and C.A. Davids, and Mark Gevisser. Three authors, writing in three different genres (although I realize that ‘genre’ in itself… Read More ›
-
Books for the Masses? Publishing Genre Fiction in Africa: Africa Writes, 13 July 2014
AiW Guest Emma Shercliff Review of panel discussion with Bibi Bakare-Yusuf of Cassava Republic Press; Valerie Brandes of Jacaranda Books; Verna Wilkins of Tamarind Books and Susan Yearwood, agent and founder of Susan Yearwood Literary Agency. Chaired by Simi Dosekun…. Read More ›
-
Ama Ata Aidoo in Conversation: Review, Africa Writes
AiW Guest Réhab Abdelghany Last month, the Royal African Society’s annual Africa Writes Festival brought to the UK an audience with the eminent Ghanaian playwright, poet, novelist and academic, Ama Ata Aidoo: a festive event in its own right. Having… Read More ›
-
Lauren Beukes and C.A. Davids at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, 9 Aug, 2014
AiW guest: James Smith. Broken Monsters and Broken Dreams I read Broken Monsters on a night flight from Cape Town, on my way to interview Lauren Beukes following her contribution to the Edinburgh Book Festival (2014 edition). It made the… Read More ›
-
Q&A: Madhu Krishnan interviews novelist Okey Ndibe at Africa Writes
AiW Guest: Madhu Krishnan Okey Ndibe was born in Eastern Nigeria in 1960. A novelist, political columnist and essayist, he moved to the United States in 1988 at Chinua Achebe’s invitation, helping to found African Commentary. His critically-acclaimed first novel,… Read More ›
-
Blogging the Caine Prize: Efemia Chela’s ‘Chicken’
AiW Guest Zahrah Nesbitt-Ahmed Efemia Chela’s ‘Chicken’ initially felt like two different stories told in three parts. This was until I gave it another read and realised its three separate parts tell an interesting coming-of-age story. Our narrator, Kaba, is at… Read More ›
-
Blogging the Caine Prize: Tendai Huchu’s ‘The Intervention’
AiW Guest Anthea Gordon In Binyavanga Wainana’s influential essay ‘How to Write About Africa’, one of his many salient pieces of tongue-in-cheek advice is: ‘be sure to leave the strong impression that without your intervention and your important book, Africa… Read More ›
-
Blogging the Caine Prize: Okwiri Oduor’s ‘My Father’s Head’
AiW Guest: Doseline Kiguru As I began to read ‘My Father’s Head’, I thought for a moment that it was going to be yet another Caine Prize story set in church and about cunning priests and their gullible as well as… Read More ›
-
The Absence of African Literature in American Legal Academia
AiW Guest: Dustin Zacks. The American Law and Literature movement consistently draws discussion material from the same wells. Consider a cursory search of just one database, HeinOnline, commonly used to browse American law reviews: one could spend countless hours perusing… Read More ›
-
Forward to Freedom: The History of the British Anti-Apartheid Movement, 1959-1994
Africa in Words Guest: Lucy McCann. For the 20th anniversary of the first democratic elections in South Africa on the 27th April a website has been launched recording the history of the Anti-Apartheid Movement in Britain. Funded by the Amiel &… Read More ›
-
Roundtable on African Popular Culture and Public Space: Review
AiW Guest Rehab Abdelghany The 3rd African Popular Cultures Workshop hosted at the University of Sussex concluded with a roundtable that brought together six academics and creative writers, who research, write from and about different parts of the African continent…. Read More ›
-
Inua Ellams at the African Popular Cultures Workshop: Review
AiW Guest Lilly Kroll Inua Ellams is in a state of flux. He is scrolling through the iPad in front of him, searching for a poem by the American poet Terrance Hayes to read aloud to the crowd of people… Read More ›
-
‘Nairobi Half Life’ (2012 Film) at the 3rd African Popular Cultures Workshop: Review
At the end of March we – Katie and Kate – were lucky enough to be involved in organizing the third African Popular Cultures workshop at the University of Sussex. This collaboration between the Sussex Africa Centre PhD committee, tutors… Read More ›
africainwords.com 