AiW Note: We are delighted to be able to share here a set of Q&As based around the novel Dear Alaere, published by Paperworth Books in 2020. Both the author, Eriye Onagoruwa, and the book’s publisher and founder of Paperworth… Read More ›
Conversations with – interview, dialogue, Q&A
Q&A: The New Brighton Art School – Madoda Honi
With AiW Guests: Dolla Sapeta and Madoda Honi. AiW note: A few weeks ago, Africa in Words published the first of our pioneering posts promoting the work of the New Brighton Art School. We sat down with Dolla Sapeta, its founder, to… Read More ›
Q&A: Words on the Times – Mazi Nwonwu of Omenana magazine
AiW note: Omenana is a tri-monthly magazine by Mazi Nwonwu (Co-founder and Managing Editor), Chinelo Onwualu (Co-founder), Iquo DianaAbasi (Contributing Editor), and Godson ChukwuEmeka Okeiyi (Graphic Designer); it is open to submissions from speculative fiction writers from across Africa and… Read More ›
Q&A – Chibundu Onuzo, author of ‘Sankofa’
AiW Guest: Zahra Banday AiW note: Following up on her review of Sankofa, “a fresh, funny and moving take on the theme of identity and place… crafted with gentle care but harbouring brutal realities,” Zahra Banday interviews its award-winning author,… Read More ›
Q&A -‘Farewell Amor’ (2020) filmmaker Ekwa Msangi: talking immigration, cultural specificity, and racism in cinema
AiW Guests: Libby Gervais, Abi Taphouse, James Truscott & Maddy Holmes “Let’s actually think about who they are, not just what they are here to take from us”. Ekwa Msangi. Ekwa Msangi is a film director, writer and producer, who has… Read More ›
Q&A: Véronique Tadjo – On opening up new possibilities with In the Company of Men
‘Brief and haunting, this makes for a timely testament to the destructive powers of pandemics’ – Publishers Weekly Véronique Tadjo is a writer and painter from Ivory Coast. This year marks the release of her latest novel in translation, In… Read More ›
Q&A: Alexander Nderitu – trailblazing ‘When the Whirlwind Passes’ from digital to print
‘That great Kenyan novel will eventually come. Perhaps, it will even emerge online, like the novels of Alexander Nderitu.’ – Joyce Nyairo, cultural analyst, Daily Nation Alexander Nderitu is a Kenyan poet, novelist, and playwright and critic. He is also an arts analyst… Read More ›
Q&A: The New Brighton Art School – Khaya Gqomo
With AiW Guests: Dolla Sapeta and Khaya Gqomo. A few weeks ago, Africa in Words published the first of our pioneering posts promoting the work of the New Brighton Art School. We sat down with Dolla Sapeta, its founder, to… Read More ›
Q&A with poet Romeo Oriogun: Sacrament of Bodies
AiW Guests: Fisayo Amodu, Dora Houghton & Bryony Gooch. Romeo Oriogun is an award-winning poet from Nigeria. His previous work includes the chapbooks Burnt Men, The Origin of Butterflies and Museum of Silence. He was also awarded the 2017 Brunel… Read More ›
Q&A with Abubakar Adam Ibrahim: “Writing the history of the present”
AiW Guests: Yasmine Arasteh, Skye Frewin & Sally Wright. Abubakar Adam Ibrahim is a prominent Nigerian writer and journalist. He is the author of the short story collection The Whispering Trees (2012), the novel Season of Crimson Blossoms (2015), and… Read More ›
“We can draw from the past and create something new, or we can just present the past as it was”: Talking Nostalgia, Memory, and Creative Collaboration with Wanjeri Gakuru
AiW Guests: Isobella Norman, Leyla Mohammed and Leoni Fretwell. Wanjeri Gakuru is a freelance journalist, essayist and filmmaker invested in gender equality and social justice. From 2018, Wanjeri has been the Managing Editor of Jalada Africa, a Pan-African writers’ collective… Read More ›
Q&A with Abdulrazak Gurnah about latest novel ‘Afterlives’: “These stories have been with me all along…”
By AiW Guest: Judyannet Muchiri.
[…]
Judyannet Muchiri: This is a heavy story and yet there are moments of stillness, joy, love, and tenderness, if you will. I wonder how it is for you as a writer to capture this human existence in its totality as you have done in Afterlives.
Abdulrazak Gurnah: My interest was not to write about the war or the ugliness of colonialism. Instead I want to make sure the context in which war and colonialism happened is understood. And that the people in that context were people with entire existences. I want to show how people who are wounded by the war and by life itself cope in these circumstances. Using the unexpected kindnesses in the story, I wanted to show that there is potential for kindness in people and sometimes circumstances can draw such kindness from us.
Q&A with Femi Kayode, author of ‘Lightseekers’
AiW Guest: Tọ́pẹ́-ẸniỌbańkẹ́ Adégòkè. AiW note: Femi Kayode grew up in Lagos, Nigeria. He studied Clinical Psychology at the University of Ibadan and has worked in advertising over the last two decades. He was a Packard Fellow in Film and… Read More ›
Q&A with Writer and Publisher Nii Ayikwei Parkes: ‘The thing about any book, anything that’s written, is that it’s the start of a conversation, it’s never the end’
AiW Guests: Lottie McGrath, Charlie Renwick, Eloise Percy-Davis and Tilly Everard. Nii Ayikwei Parkes is an acclaimed British-Ghanaian poet, writer, and publisher. Winner of multiple international awards, Parkes’ work ranges from the reinvention of accounts of slavery with sci-fi undertones… Read More ›
Q&A with Ayesha Harruna Attah: ‘The Deep Blue Between’
AiW Guests: Trang Vu, Hannah Judge & Naomi Osborne. Ayesha Harruna Attah is a Senegal-based Ghanaian writer. She is the author of Harmattan Rain, Saturday’s Shadows and The Hundred Wells of Salaga and has recently published a young adult novel,… Read More ›
The New Brighton Art School
AiW note: Last year, Africa in Words published a fascinating Words on the Times feature with the South African artist and poet, Dolla Sapeta. During his responses Dolla spoke of his vision of “bringing to life an art school in… Read More ›
Q&A: ABC-Words on the Times – Menzi Thango of Bhiyoza Publishers
AiW note: To celebrate the past thirty years of independent distributing and bookselling at African Books Collective (ABC), we are running a series highlighting the wonderful work of those who make up ABC. We will be talking to some of… Read More ›
Q&A: Words on the Times – Shiraz Durrani and Kimani Waweru from Vita Books
AiW note: To celebrate the past thirty years of independent distributing and bookselling at African Books Collective (ABC), we are running a series highlighting the wonderful work of those who make up ABC. We will be talking to some of… Read More ›
Q&A: Uchechukwu Peter Umezurike interviews Abubakar Adam Ibrahim about his latest collection “Dreams and Assorted Nightmares” (2020)
AiW note: Dreams and Assorted Nightmares is Ibrahim’s third book and second story collection, newly released with Masobe Books. In the interview below, Umezurike and Ibrahim discuss the interconnecting fantastical short stories of the collection, their exploration of the “spaces… Read More ›
Q&A: Words on the Times– Nick Mulgrew, founder & director of uHlanga Press
AiW note: To celebrate the past thirty years of independent distributing and bookselling at African Books Collective (ABC), we are running a series highlighting the wonderful work of those who make up ABC. We will be talking to some of… Read More ›
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