It has been a lit first month of 2021! As we move through the changed circumstances, timelines and spaces of now, we catch up on our monthly round-up of ‘other words’ we haven’t had out already on the site –… Read More ›
Africa Writes
Review: A Community Forms, a Community Mourns: The Death of Vivek Oji
AiW Guest: Rashi Rohatgi. We’ve been a fan of Akwaeke Emezi’s writing since the pre-launch of their debut, Freshwater, at Africa Writes 2018; after that luminous novel and its YA successor, Pet, Emezi is back with what is perhaps 2020’s… Read More ›
In other Words… AiW news and November’s wrap
As we move through the changed circumstances, timelines and spaces of now, we catch up on our monthly round-up of ‘other words’ we haven’t had out already on the site – news on AiW’s radar, collated from across our social… Read More ›
Celebrating ‘The Decade Project’ with Brittle Paper: 10 AiW African Literary Cultural Faves
Literary blog and archiving platform Brittle Paper turns 10 this year! Happy birthday BP! This month we take up their invitation to join their celebrations in their #DecadeProject with a post marking the last ten years as a significant decade… Read More ›
2018 Africa Writes #P&P – ‘The archive of my life’: The UK pre-launch of Akwaeke Emezi’s autobiographical novel ‘Freshwater’
AiW note: Sana Goyal’s piece covering Africa Writes’ 2018 pre-launch of the UK edition of Akwaeke Emezi’s debut novel, Freshwater, brings our range of #PastAndPresent posts over this first weekend in July 2020 – the weekend the in-person festival would… Read More ›
2017 Africa Writes #P&P Highlights Reel: 2017 Caine Prize Conversation
AiW note: If AiW memory serves, since at least 2014, Africa Writes has hosted the Caine Prize shortlisted writers in conversation, prior to the announcement of the winner in July. At AiW, we’ve been reviewing the shortlisted stories and thinking… Read More ›
2015 Africa Writes #P&P – Losing my Head Because: Ben Okri’s Meditations on Greatness
AiW note: Bwesigye Bwa Mesigire’s reflections on Ben Okri’s headline event for the 2015 Africa Writes Festival form part of our #PastAndPresent weekend of re-posts of coverage of the festival over the years (from 2013-2018). The full timetable of our… Read More ›
2014 Africa Writes #P&P – What space is there for African travel writing? ‘Broadening the Gaze’
AiW note: Rebecca Jones was at the 2014 Africa Writes Festival in London. We republish her coverage of the African & Diaspora Travel Writing panel here as part of our Africa Writes #PastAndPresent weekender, anticipating the online conversations of the… Read More ›
2013 Africa Writes #P&P – Q&A: Poet, writer and educator Warsan Shire
AiW Note: this republication of a 2013 in-depth (long) and rich (vibrantly so) conversation between poet and activist Warsan Shire and Katie Reid of AiW marks the first post in our second day of Africa Writes #Past&Present revisits over this… Read More ›
2018 Africa Writes #P&P – Building an Archive – Voices from the Panel “Loving Womxn: Deliberate and Afraid of Nothing”
AiW note: this review of the panel ‘Loving Womxn’ at the 2018 Africa Writes Festival in London is part of our #Past&Present revisits of our coverage of the festival over the years, in the run-up to the digital conversations of… Read More ›
2016 Africa Writes #P&P Highlight Reel – ‘On Being a Woman Writer: Nawal El Saadawi’
AiW Note: As part of our Africa Writes #PastAndPresent weekend, and in the absence of the in-person festival in 2020, this highlight reel marks the headline event at Africa Writes 2016, “On Being a Woman Writer: Nawal El Saadawi in… Read More ›
2015 Africa Writes #P&P – Q&A with author and Africa Writes guest Abubakar Adam Ibrahim
AiW note: this conversation between Abubakar Adam Ibrahim and Emma Shercliff, prior to the Africa Writes’ 2015 Festival is the third post this weekend of some of our coverage over the years, in the run up to the digital conversations… Read More ›
2014 Africa Writes #P&P – Ama Ata Aidoo in Conversation: Review.
AiW note: this review of the great Ama Ata Aidoo in conversation with Dr Wangui wa Goro at Africa Writes’ 2014 edition is the second of our cast backs to our attendance at the Festival over the years, in the… Read More ›
2013 Africa Writes #P&P – Q&A: Novelist, poet and literary scholar Mukoma wa Ngugi
AiW Note: As part of our Africa Writes #PastAndPresent weekend, in the absence of the in-person festival in 2020, this Q&A is the first in our cast back over our coverage of Africa Writes over the years, and is republished… Read More ›
Back to Africa Writes – AiW’s #PastAndPresent – Saturday 4th and Sunday 5th July, 2020.
In the run-up to the digital conversations of a remote Africa Writes, the Royal Africa Society’s annual literature festival, 2020, we are running a selection of #PastAndPresent posts from our archive of coverage of the Festival over the years. We’ve… Read More ›
Q&A: The ‘Self-Confessed Rambler’: In Conversation with TJ Dema
AiW Guests: Dani Payne and Isobel Clark TJ Dema is a poet and arts administrator, currently living in Bristol. As a spoken word poet, she reads her poetry all over the world. In 2018, she won the Sillerman Prize for… Read More ›
AFRICA WRITES – BRISTOL (28 June – 4 July)
Celebrating contemporary literature and thought from Africa and the diaspora: The Royal African Society and Saseni! present AFRICA WRITES – BRISTOL From Friday 28 June to Thursday 4 July 2019 Africa Writes – Bristol will be celebrating contemporary literature from… Read More ›
“Corridors of storytelling” in contemporary African culture: Small Magazines at Africa Writes – Sunday July 1st, 2018
AiW Guest: Sumayya Lee. AiW note: This is the fifth in a series of posts for Africa in Words exploring the networked series of research, events, and discussions, ‘Small Magazines, Literary Networks and Self-Fashioning in Africa and its Diasporas’. Here… Read More ›
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 ›
‘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 ›