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Features, Lit Scene, News 2018/11/12

On Black and Arab Identities: Safia Elhillo’s Arab American Book Awards Acceptance Speech

Safia Elhillo - tcb book club (2)

Safia Elhillo has won the 2018 Arab American Book Award, also known as the George Ellenbogen Poetry Award, for her debut poetry collection The January Children. She is the first Sudanese American author to win the award. A leading voice in the contemporary African poetry scene, Elhillo is known for her experimental poetic style and her hard-hitting […]

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Features, Lit Scene, News 2018/11/12

Attend the Second Edition of the Write with Style Workshop with Oris Aigbokhaevbolo

Oris Aigbokhaevbolo (2)

Following the first edition of the Write With Style Workshop, the award-winning writer, critic, and journalist Oris Aigbokhaevbolo is hosting an expansive second edition on 24 and 25 November 2018. Topics to be covered at the workshop include: – How to write a good sentence – Killing clichés in your writing – Tips and tricks […]

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Features, Lit Scene, News 2018/11/12

Ngugi’s Novel, Matigari, Is Being Adapted to Film by Nollywood Director Kunle Afolayan

Kenyan author Ngugi wa ThiongÕo, Distinguished Professor of English and comparative literature at UC Irvine, is on the short list for the 2010 Nobel Prize in literature, for xxx(add phrase or blurb here from award announcement; Chancellor quote? Christine writing and getting approved quote). Ngugi, whose name is pronounced ÒGoogyÓ and means Òwork,Ó is a prolific writer of novels, plays, essays and childrenÕs literature. Many of these have skewered the harsh sociopolitical conditions of post-Colonial Kenya, where he was born, imprisoned by the government and forced into exile. His recent works have been among his most highly acclaimed and include what some consider his finest novel, ÒMurogi wa KagogoÓ (ÒWizard of the CrowÓ), a sweeping 2006 satire about globalization that he wrote in his native Gikuyu language. In his 2009 book ÒSomething Torn & New: An African Renaissance,Ó Ngugi argues that a resurgence of African languages is necessary to the restoration of African wholeness. ÒI use the novel form to explore issues of wealth, power and values in society and how their production and organization in society impinge on the quality of a peopleÕs spiritual life,Ó he has said.

Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s 1987 novel Matigari is being adapted to film by Nollywood director Kunle Afolayan in a co-production with yet undisclosed Kenyan and South African filmmakers. The filmmaker behind such acclaimed films as The Figurine and October 1 revealed this at the Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAAs) last month in Kigali, Rwanda. “Ngugi is like the Wole […]

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Features, Lit Scene, News 2018/11/12

Safia Elhillo Makes a Fashion Statement at the Arab American Book Awards

Safia Elhillo - tcb book club (2)

From Taiye Selasi’s dreamy designer collections and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s flayed ankara sleeves and Dior collaboration to Alain Mabanckou’s dapper suits and glasses and Yvonne Owuor’s elegant dresses, from Chika Unigwe’s on-point accessories to Molara Wood’s newspaper dress and Teju Cole’s Ikire Jones scarves and inspiring a jacket design and Sisonke Msimang’s thigh-high heels, writers from […]

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Features, Lit Scene, News 2018/11/12

Read Chapter One of Nuruddin Farah’s New Novel, North of Dawn

nuruddin farah boundary2.org

Celebrated Somali writer Nuruddin Farah’s new novel will be out on 4 December 2018. The 384-page North of Dawn—described as “a provocative, devastating story of love, loyalty, and national identity that asks whether it is ever possible to escape a legacy of violence”—is forthcoming from Penguin Random House and is the 72-year-old’s 14th novel. North of Dawn has been […]

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Features, Reviews 2018/11/12

#WeLoveBooks | Feeling and Ugly by Danai Mupotsa

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Welcome back to our weekly updates on new book finds. Feeling and Ugly by Danai Mupotsa is a gem. Feeling and Ugly was published earlier this year by Impepho Press, an independent South African publishing company run by three women—Vangile Gantsho, Sarah Godsell, and Tanya Pretorius. As poets, thinkers, and activists, Gantsho, Godsell, and Pretorius […]

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Contact Us, Features, Lit Scene, News 2018/11/09

The 2018 Brittle Paper Award for Creative Nonfiction: Meet the 8 Finalists

Brittle Paper creative nonfiction award

The shortlists for the 2018 Brittle Paper Awards were announced in October. Begun in 2017 to mark our seventh anniversary, the Awards aim to recognize the finest, original pieces of writing by Africans published online. The $1,100 prize is split across five categories: the Brittle Paper Award for Fiction ($200), the Brittle Paper Award for Poetry ($200), the Brittle Paper Award for Creative Nonfiction ($200), the Brittle Paper Award […]

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Features, Lit Scene, News 2018/11/09

Story Story, Story Come | New Anthology of Children’s Folktales Forthcoming from Paivapo and Ouida Books Imprint Tanja

Story Story, Story Come - graph

Two publishers, Lagos-based Ouida Books imprint Tanja and Nairobi-based Paivapo, are collaborating on a new anthology of children’s stories. Edited by the Nairobi-based Gambian journalist and media trainer Maimouna Jallow, Story Story, Story Come collects 12 folktales by writers from across the continent: South Sudan, Nigeria, South Africa, The Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Zambia, Cameroon, and […]

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Features 2018/11/08

Excerpt #1 | My Sister, the Serial Killer | Oyinkan Braithwaite

my sister the serial killer - onika braithwaithe

BLEACH   I bet you didn’t know that bleach masks the smell of blood. Most people use bleach indiscriminately, assuming […]

Contact Us 2018/11/07

The 2018 Brittle Paper Award for Essays & Think Pieces: Meet the 7 Finalists

Brittle Paper essays and think pieces award

The shortlists for the 2018 Brittle Paper Awards were announced in October. Begun in 2017 to mark our seventh anniversary, the Awards aim to recognize the […]

Features 2018/11/06

The Orange Book Prize in Africa, Set for 2019, Will Honour the Best Francophone Fiction Book Published in the Continent

black moses

A new literary prize has been launched. The €10,000 Orange Book Prize in Africa, set to debut in 2019, will […]

Features 2018/11/05

Tope Folarin’s Debut Novel Is Set for Summer 2019 Release

tope folarin a particular kind of black man

Tope Folarin’s debut novel is titled A Particular Kind of Black Man and is set for a summer 2019 release […]

Features 2018/11/05

#WeLoveBooks | Elsewhere, Home by Leila Aboulela

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Any plans to read a book this weekend? Ditch that novel you’ve been thinking about and check out Leila Aboulela’s […]

Features 2018/11/04

Read the First Review of Chigozie Obioma’s New Novel, An Orchestra of Minorities

chigozie obioma - the indianola review

What we have waited for months: the first review of Chigozie Obioma’s An Orchestra of Minorities. The arrival of Obioma’s […]

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