On 4 December 2014, in the grand setting of Marlborough House (Binyavanga Wainaina wryly explains away his lateness as a consequence of getting lost in Prince Charles’s bedroom) a polite, excited crowd gathers to celebrate the publication of Yvonne Adhiambo… Read More ›
AiW Guest Emma Shercliff The theme of the second Ake Festival, which took place from 18-22 November 2014 in Abeokuta, Nigeria, was ‘Bridges and Pathways’. Festival Director Lola Shoneyin had emphasized that the focus this year would be ‘on building… Read More ›
AiW Guest Nathan Suhr-Sytsma The 57th annual meeting of the African Studies Association took place in Indianapolis over the weekend of 20-23rd November, under the theme ‘Rethinking Violence, Reconstruction and Reconciliation’. A large interdisciplinary conference with more than two thousand… Read More ›
AiW Guest Sarah Jilani Returning to London for its fourth year, the Royal African Society’s Film Africa 2014 festival brought a wealth of diverse voices from Africa and beyond in a celebration of past and present filmmaking from the continent…. Read More ›
AiW Guest Catherine Gilbert Matière grise (Grey Matter), 2011. Directed by Kivu Ruhorahoza. 110 min. Kinyarwanda and French with English subtitles. 2014 marks the twentieth anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda in which as many as one million people were… Read More ›
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 ›
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 ›
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 ›
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 ›
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 ›
‘50 Years of Independence: Reflections on the Role of Progressive African Intellectuals’ As Walter Bgoya took to the microphone to begin his keynote speech at the African Studies Association UK’s biennial conference, I was immediately struck by his wisdom and… Read More ›
The Zakes Mda session at the Edinburgh Book Festival, ‘No artist is subject to the state’, unfolded in all the best senses of the term. Chaired by Zoë Wicomb – who is succinctly described in The Scotsman as “a writer… Read More ›
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 ›
An Edinburgh International Book Festival session with Damon Galgut: Arctic Summer (Umuzi/Atlantic, 2014). Part of the Book Festival’s ‘Voices from South Africa’ theme. Chaired by Claire Armitstead (Books Editor at the Guardian and the Observer). Arctic Summer is South African writer… Read More ›
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 ›
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 ›
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 ›
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 ›
The second half of the African Popular Cultures Workshop at Sussex was held in a modern studio space called the ‘Creativity Zone’. Made up of three adjoining rooms, each of these exhibited different elements of work brought together under the… Read More ›
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 ›
