Aiw Guest: Matthew Lecznar Now in its fifth year, the University of Sussex’s African Popular Cultures Workshop creates a lively space where practitioners, researchers and enthusiasts alike come together to consider and celebrate aspects of cultural production in Africa and… Read More ›
Matthew Lecznar
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 ›
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 ›
Q&A with Toni Stuart: Poetry gives people the power to make their voices heard
AiW Guest: Matthew Lecznar Toni Stuart is a South African poet, performer and spoken word educator, who presently works between Cape Town and London. Her work has been published in anthologies, journals and non-fiction books in South Africa and internationally. In 2013,… 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 ›