For Chinua Achebe at 70 Ah, Chinua, are you grapevine wired? It sings: our nation is not dead, not clinically Yet. Now this may come as a surprise to you, It was to me. I thought the form I spied Beneath the frosted glass of a fifty-carat catafalque Was the face of our own dear [...]
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RIP Achebe! View Photos from Achebe’s Funeral
Chinua Achebe was buried yesterday at his hometown in Ogidi, Anambra state. Thousands of well-wishers came out to pay their last respects to a man who gave Africa so much. President Goodluck Jonathan attended in the company of Ghana’s President Mahama. The funeral had a heavy political presence. Ministers, governors, and senators were present in [...]
My Valentine by Seun Odukoya
So there I was, Thursday; Valentine’s Day 2013. When I say ‘there I was’ I meant ‘there I was’. In other words, I was just there. I was at work, something-after 8 o’clock in the evening – having just responded to the last of the comments on my just completed series ’14 Days’. My colleagues [...]
Elegy for the Nation by Wole Soyinka
For Chinua Achebe at 70 Ah, Chinua, are you grapevine wired? It sings: our nation is not dead, not clinically Yet. Now this may come as a surprise to you, It was to me. I thought the form I spied Beneath the frosted glass of a fifty-carat catafalque Was the face of our own dear [...]
VIDEO | Chimamanda Chats With Granta Editor Ellah Allfrey
Chimamanda Adichie chats with Ellah Allfrey, the deputy editor of Granta Magazine. She speaks about where the power of fiction lies, why love stories matter, and how in writing Americanah she essentially writes the book about race that she has always wanted to read. Also watch out for a funny anecdote she shares of a Lagos dentist [...]
#literaryinventions | A Note on Form by Ben Okri
“The following tales are properly called “stokus.” A stoku is an amalgam of short story and haiku. It is story as it inclines towards a flash of a moment, insight, vision or paradox. It’s origin is mysterious, its purpose is revelation, its form compact, its subject infinite. Its nature is enigma as it finds tentative [...]
VIDEO | Moving Account of Friendship Between Achebe and Nuruddin Farah
Somalian novelist Nuruddin Farah narrates an anecdote about paying a 7-day visit to Achebe during which they literally talked every waking hour. This is, for me, the most moving and heartfelt account that any African writer has given of Achebe till date. I wish we could have more videos and written reflections like this one. [...]
