AiW Guest: Doseline Kiguru AiW note: As with every year since “Joining the Caine Prize ‘Blog-Carnival’” back in 2013 — Africa in Words has engaged with the AKO Caine Prize for African Writers in the run up to the winner… Read More ›
Kwani?
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 ›
A Review of ‘Nairobi Noir’, a collection of short stories edited by Peter Kimani
AiW Guest: Maëline Le Lay. Initially published by Akashic Books, the New York publisher of Kenyan novelist and journalist Peter Kimani (author of the highly regarded Dance of the Jakaranda), this collection of short stories complements the rich collection of “noir”… Read More ›
CFP: ‘Binyavanga Wainaina: Literary Legacies and Creative Futures’, ASAUK 2020 (Deadline: 22 March)
Binyavanga Wainaina: Literary Legacies and Creative Futures At ASAUK 2020 Cardiff, Wales, UK 08-10 September 2020 Following the general call, we are delighted to share the call for papers for the thematic stream ‘Binyavanga Wainaina: Literary Legacies and Creative Futures’… Read More ›
Event: What Is Happening in African Literature Today? (Lagos, 31 May)
The Goethe-Institut Nigeria and Wawa Book Review cordially invite you to the Public Conversation, ‘What Is Happening in African Literature Today?’, which offers a platform to literary critics, editors and translators to meet colleagues from different parts of the continent… Read More ›
Literary Networks and Collaborations: A Nod towards Knowledge Decolonisation
AiW Guest: Doseline Kiguru. AiW note: This is part of 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 our… Read More ›
‘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 ›
Do African Literary Festivals Culture (?): Bwesigye Bwa Mwesigire on the Writivism Experience
Bwesigye Bwa Mwesigire was formerly Programs Director at Writivism Festival. This piece, reflecting on his experience of Writivism, was adapted from a presentation he made at the 5th Annual African Popular Cultures Workshop at Sussex University on 19 April 2016. The… Read More ›
Event: Africa Salon 2016, 28 March – 3 April 2016, New Haven
YALE UNIVERSITY’S SECOND ANNUAL AFRICA SALON BRINGS NAME ARTISTS, VIBRANT PERFORMANCES, UNIQUE PROJECTS TO NEW HAVEN Festival offers week-long celebration of contemporary African arts and culture 28 March – 3 April 2016 New Haven The second annual AFRICA SALON, Yale… Read More ›
Reading Lessons: The Chronic (“New Cartographies,” March 2015)
AiW Guest: Ed Charlton. When it comes to alliances and accords, Africa is full of them. Whether it is bilateral extradition treaties, regional trade agreements, or the pan-continental constitution of the African Union, there are everywhere traces of the extranational… Read More ›
New African fiction, poetry and non-fiction for the coming months
As the seasons change and Spring begins to arrive here in the UK, it seems a good time look forward to some forthcoming African fiction, non-fiction and poetry releases due over the next few months. What are you looking forward… Read More ›
Call For Submissions: Kwani? Poetry Anthology and The Kampala Poetry Anthology
Kwani? Poetry Anthology, Kenya Deadline: 20 January 2015 Due to the proliferation of Kenyan poetry groups and the diversity of poetic voices on the stage and page, the time has come for a forward-looking publisher to gather any such willing voices… Read More ›
Africa Utopia – Southbank Centre, 11-14 September 2014
Africa Utopia Southbank Centre, London Thursday 11th – Sunday 14th September 2014 Following 2012’s sensational first edition, Africa Utopia is back for 2014 to once again look at what can be learnt and celebrated from Africa and the African diaspora…. Read More ›
‘Beyond the Novel: Developing Contemporary African Writing’: Review, Africa Writes 2014
Saturday 12th July found me seated in the conference auditorium of the British Library, expectantly awaiting the start of a panel entitled ‘Beyond the Novel: Developing Contemporary African Writing’. Comprising one of the many events scheduled at Africa Writes 2014,… Read More ›
Roundtable on African Popular Culture and Public Space: Review
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 Exhibition and Plenary Lecture at the African Popular Cultures Workshop: Review
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 ›
Reflections on a Kwani? Decade: 27–30 November 2013
In celebration of our 10th Anniversary, between 27th – 30th November 2013 Kwani Trust host a series of literary, creative and artistic events that reflect on our work and its place in the literary history of Kenya, East Africa and… Read More ›
Q&A: Judy Kibinge – Writer, director and film maker
Judy Kibinge is a Kenyan writer, director and film maker. Her debut film Dangerous Affair (2002) won the overall award at the 2003 Zanzibar Film Festival and she won Best Director at the 2009 Kalasha Awards for her film Killer… Read More ›
Highlights: Year 2, Africa in Words
We’ve had a busy twelve months at AiW, one full of firsts – such as our linked ‘Series’ posts featuring Guest contributors, and the beginnings of our Q&As. The blog has now been running for two years, and we’ve gained new followers… Read More ›
Notes from the Kwani? Literary Festival
AiW Guest Dzekashu MacViban In December 2012, I travelled to Nairobi for the 2012 Kwani? Litfest as part of the Goethe Institut’s pan-African exchange programme ‘Moving Africa’. Of the various panels and readings I attended four stood out: our Moving… Read More ›