AiW Guest Pede Hollist The biography at the end of “Memories We Lost” quotes South African writer, filmmaker, and photographer Lidudumalingani as saying, “I am fascinated by mental illnesses, having seen my own extended relatives deal with it.” He also… Read More ›
Reviews & Spotlights on…
Broken Men Who Never Heal: A Review of Bongani Kona’s “At Your Requiem”
AiW Guest: Iquo DianaAbasi “I rewind time to conjure you back to life.” The above words on the opening page strike a note of foreboding and thus set the tone and pace for the story. Indeed the whole tale rests on this conjuring back to life through… Read More ›
2016 Caine Prize Shortlist: Review of Lesley Nneka Arimah’s “What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky.”
It’s Caine Prize season again! Before the judges’ announcement on 4th July, we’re taking a look at each of the shortlisted stories. This week, Beverley Nambozo Nsengiyunva reviews Lesley Nneka Arimah’s “What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky.” AiW Guest: Beverley Nambozo Nsengiyunva The opening line is… Read More ›
What do children read?: A Review of ALT 33 Children’s Literature and Story-telling
Following AiW’s Q&A with Professor Emenyonu last week, and to kick-off our summer review series on African children’s literature, Tamara Moellenberg reviews ALT 33: Children’s Literature and Story-telling. AiW Guest: Tamara Moellenberg Children’s Literature and Story-telling, the latest issue of African Literature Today, brings much-needed attention to… Read More ›
The Truth outside Context: Jumoke Verissimo reviews Elnathan John’s Born on a Tuesday
This review of Elnathan John’s Born on a Tuesday is the first in a series of reviews of books published by Cassava Republic Press that we’ll be running over coming weeks to celebrate the launch of Cassava Republic in the UK. AiW… Read More ›
It’s Not Easy Being Green: A Review of Henrietta Rose-Innes’s Green Lion
AiW Guest: Graham Riach Henrietta Rose-Innes’s latest novel opens with drifter Constantine on his way to retrieve the belongings of his childhood friend and one-time crush, zookeeper Mark Carolissen. Mark lies bandaged in hospital after a mauling by a rare black-maned… Read More ›
2016 Caine Prize Shortlist: Review of Abdul Adan’s “The Lifebloom Gift”
It’s Caine Prize season again! Before the judges’ announcement on 4th July, we’re having a look at each of the shortlisted stories. This week, Beverley Nambozo Nsengiyunva reviews Abdul Adan’s “The Lifebloom Gift.” AiW Guest: Beverley Nambozo Nsengiyunva “The Lifebloom Gift” will be remembered as one of the… Read More ›
Review: Best “New” African Poets 2015 Anthology
AiW Guest: Rashi Rohatgi Best “New” African Poets 2015 Anthology Anthologie Des Meilleures “Nouveaux” Poètes Africains 2015 Antologia Dos Melhores “Novos” Poetas Africanos 2015 “We couldn’t give poets topics because we are not Africa. We didn’t want to determine what Africa… Read More ›
Review: Things We Lost in the Fire by Vuyelwa Maluleke
AiW Guest: Toni Stuart Vuyelwa Maluleke’s Things We Lost in the Fire is a meditation on all that still lies broken within and between South Africans. It is at once a meditation on the woundedness of South Africa’s black men, and,… Read More ›
Review: A General Theory of Oblivion by José Eduardo Agualusa
AiW Guest: Matthew Lecznar A General Theory of Oblivion tells the real life story of Ludovica Fernandes Mano, a Portuguese woman who spent most of her life in Luanda, Angola. The narrative is framed by Ludo’s remarkable decision to brick herself… Read More ›
Deep Rivulets of Feeling: A Review of Viola Allo’s Bird from Africa
AiW Guest: Tamara Moellenberg This month, Tamara Moellenberg continues our deep dive into Eight New Generation African Poets with a review of Viola Allo’s Bird from Africa. Here is a poet who writes from herself, who seeks to express, not impress–though impress she… Read More ›
Telling the African Story: A Review of Janet Kofi-Tsekpo’s Yellow Iris
AiW Guest: Jovia Salifu This month, Jovia Salifu continues our deep dive into Eight New Generation African Poets. As a lover of poetry, it is always a wonderful feeling to come across beautiful poetry. It is even more exciting when… Read More ›
Living in and through Zambia: Review of Tanvi Bush’s ‘Witch Girl’ (Modjaji Books)
AiW Guest: Gráinne O’Connell Witch Girl is a 2015 novel that reads like a play. Indeed, I hope to see more titles by this author, including plays. The title of the book, Witch Girl, reflects in part that the protagonist… Read More ›
Review: Moses Tladi UNEARTHED, South African National Gallery, 24 September 2015 – 31 March 2016
AiW Guest: Anthea Gordon To get to the South African National Art Gallery (SANG) you walk through the Company Gardens in Cape Town’s city centre. After passing baobab trees, a rose garden, and fountains in the middle of green lawns,… Read More ›
Future Visions: Five Breakout Talents in African Film Today
AiW Guest: Sarah Jilani Returning to screens across London this past November, the Royal African Society’s annual Film Africa festival celebrated and promoted filmmaking from various countries across the continent. In a colourful week of reunions, fresh faces and thought-provoking… Read More ›
Memory and the Cartography of Dismembered Parts: A Review of Peter Akinlabi’s A Pagan Place
AiW Guest: Iquo DianaAbasi Eke. This month, AiW Guest, poet Iquo DianaAbasi Eke, continues our deep dive in The Eight New Generation African Poets with her review of Peter Akinlabi’s A Pagan Place. In this collection, Akinlabi comes across as an… Read More ›
Review: Ivan Vladislavić’s 101 Detectives
AiW Guest: Thando Njovane. As demonstrated by his substantial and sophisticated body of work, South Africa’s Ivan Vladislavić is certainly one of the most remarkable and versatile writers of our time. Vladislavić’s latest gift to letters is the insightful, elaborate,… Read More ›
Home is now; home is never, now you see it, now you don’t: A Review of ‘From Home and Exile’ by Joanna Woods
AiW Guest Shadreck Chikoti A few months ago we laid to rest Professor Steve Chimombo, one of the leading writers from Malawi, a man of exceptional talent, unwavering in his passion for the arts. His legendary life has been chronicled… Read More ›
Review: Kholofelo Maenetsha’s ‘To the Black Women We All Knew’
AiW Guest: Helen Cousins. What a bittersweet eulogy this is to the suffering of Black women at the hands (and often the fists) of Black men; not always surviving, as indicated by the past tense of the title. The novel… Read More ›
I Am Not Done with African Immigrant Literature
AiW Guest Shadreck Chikoti I get afraid, very afraid, when somebody, anybody, prescribes to me which books to read and not to read. When somebody gives me a template of what African literature ought to look like. And boy! You… Read More ›