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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Q&A: Tinashe Mushakavanhu on Reading Zimbabwe from Kampala
AiW Guest: Tadiwa Madenga Before I travelled to Kampala, I found myself shockingly motivated to finish writing an academic paper. I had just moved from Boston to Brooklyn for the summer, and in that transition, a once tedious essay felt… Read More ›
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Conserving culture and pushing boundaries in Somaliland: Hargeysa International Book Fair 2018
AiW Guest: Caitlin Pearson, Africa Writes Go through the gates of the Xaranta Dhaqanka, the Hargeysa Cultural Centre in Somaliland’s capital, and you’ll encounter a courtyard of small buildings. To your right is the Cultural Centre’s library, housing a wide-ranging… Read More ›
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“Reading is a collective pursuit”: Open Book Festival Review
AiW Guest: Megan Ross. Before I write this review I’ll… Share my Open Book diet Too. Much. Caffeine. All the dry red at the Fugard bar. Half a bottle of single malt whiskey (and its accompanying hangover) that Helene Prinsloo… Read More ›
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African Superheroes in the 1970s and 1980s: A Postscript
AiW note: This is a followup to the second post in our series on African superheroes, guest edited by Tessa Pijnaker, PhD student in African Studies and Anthropology at the University of Birmingham. Look out for more in this AiW… Read More ›
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The African classroom: Reviewing Le Monde Afrique’s series « La classe africaine »
AiW Guest: Connor Pruss. From January to February 2018, Le Monde Afrique, the online African edition to the French newspaper Le Monde, released a series of articles chronicling education in various contexts across the continent called, “The African Classroom” (« La… Read More ›
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‘The archive of my life’: The UK pre-launch of Akwaeke Emezi’s autobiographical novel ‘Freshwater’ at Africa Writes 2018
AiW Guest: Sana Goyal. It’s the Saturday afternoon of the Africa Writes weekend in London — the 2018 edition. Sitting in the second row of the Auditorium at the British Library, I hear several excitable voices over my shoulder. And… Read More ›
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Defragmenting the African Creative Industry. African Superheroes Series.
AiW Guest Abena Addai Boakye The fourth post in the African Superheroes series is written by Abena Addai Boakye, Communications Manager and project lead for Afrocomix at Leti Arts. She handles the daily communicative aspects of Leti and runs point on… Read More ›
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A People-centred Approach to Literary Activism in 21st Century Africa: Nii Ayikwei Parkes on Arts Management and Literary Activism at Writivism 2017
AiW Guest Madhu Krishnan. AiW note: This week in the run up to the 2018 Writivism festival, the Arts Managers and Literary Activists Network (AMLA) hosted their third annual workshop bringing together early career academics and Africa-centered literary producers. It… Read More ›
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Building an Archive – Voices from the Panel “Loving Womxn: Deliberate and Afraid of Nothing” at the 2018 Africa Writes Festival
AiW Guest: Katarzyna Kubin. It was the second day of the Africa Writes Festival, a week ahead of Black Pride. The heatwave beat on in London whilst, in the British Library, the animated festival crowd buzzed and mingled to and… Read More ›
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Q&A: Akdogan Ali – Founder of game development studio Black Ring and developer of Throne of Gods, a Nigerian fighting game based on African mythology. In the African Superheroes series.
AiW Guest Tessa Pijnaker This third post in Africa in Words’ series about African superheroes is based on an interview with Akdogan Ali in April 2018. Ali (29) and his partner Umusu Samson Iruo (31) are the founders of the… Read More ›
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Books in Your Ears: On Literary Podcasts
This Guest post marks the launch of a new series on Africa in Words reviewing literary podcasts. This Sunday 1 July, Africa in Words is hosting a conversation at Africa Writes on one of the most exciting trends in African… Read More ›
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Flexible Forms and Publics: Moradewun Adejunmobi and Stacy Hardy on Small Magazines
AiW Guest Penny Cartwright A place for ‘extended curiosity, new adventures, critical thinking, daydreaming, socio-political involvement, partying and random perusal’: so Stacy Hardy, of South Africa’s Chimurenga, imagines the small magazine. Speaking as part of a closing keynote conversation hosted… Read More ›
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African superheroes in the 1970s and 1980s: a historical perspective
AiW Guest Tessa Pijnaker This is the second of a series of posts on African superheroes, guest edited by Tessa Pijnaker, PhD student in African Studies and Anthropology at the University of Birmingham. In this post, Tessa builds from her… Read More ›
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Archiving Small Magazines: AWA Digitisation and Exhibition in Montpelier
AiW Guest Aurélie Journo AiW note: This Guest post is part of a series of articles publishing on Africa in Words that come out of conversations between a new interdisciplinary network of researchers and literary producers examining the circulation and production… Read More ›
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Krotoa-Eva’s suite – a cape jazz poem in three movements, by Toni Stuart
AiW Guest Toni Stuart Africa in Words is thrilled to be able to share with you this audio-visual poem by Toni Stuart, an excerpt from her collection-in-progress Krotoa-Eva’s suite – a cape jazz poem in three movements. Toni Stuart is a… Read More ›
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African Superheroes Blog Series: Introduction – What is an African superhero?
By AiW Guest Tessa Pijnaker This is the first of a series of posts on African superheroes, guest edited by Tessa Pijnaker, PhD student in African Studies and Anthropology at the University of Birmingham. In this first post she introduces… Read More ›
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Finding Fictions, Forging a Feminist Fantastic: Reflections on ‘This F-Word’, the 5th edition of the Aké Arts and Book Festival (Abeokuta, 14-18 November, 2017)
By Matthew Lecznar Last November, I had the pleasure of attending the 5th edition of the Aké Arts and Book Festival. Organised by the Lagos-based Book Buzz Foundation, Aké is a five-day cultural extravaganza that takes place in and around… Read More ›
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Review: African Roads (‘L’Afrique des routes’) exhibition
AiW Guest Connor Pruss. The Quai Branly Museum (Musée du Quai Branly) in Paris currently features the exhibition “African Roads (‘L’Afrique des routes’)” from Jan. 31st – Nov. 12th, 2017. In the introduction, the curators propose to challenge the preconception… Read More ›
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‘A secret history of the nation’: Small Magazines at Writivism 2017
AiW Guest Nathan Suhr-Sytsma How does our sense of cultural and literary history shift if we start not from celebrity authors or landmark novels but from small magazines and the literary networks they foster? This question motivated the discussions of… Read More ›
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4 Years, 42 Honeycomb Grain Silos, 1 Remarkable Museum – Will Zeitz MOCAA take us into an Afrofuture?
AiW Guest: Katarzyna Kubin. September was a busy month of cultural events in South Africa. The Jozi Book Fair in Johannesburg took place over three days from 31st August to 3rd September. The Open Book Festival followed in Cape Town… Read More ›
