Each year, a step is taken that opens up the African literary scene the more. In 2017, Abdulai Sila’s The Ultimate Tragedy became the first novel from Guinea-Bissau to be translated into English. This year, we welcome the first English-language novel by a woman out of Equatorial Guinea: Trifonia Melibea Obono’s La Bastarda. In an email to […]

In 1991, the six-name Man Booker Prize shortlist contained only men. Thoroughly dissatisfied, a group of female and male authors, publishers, agents, booksellers, librarians and journalists decided to create a new prize. In 1996, the Women’s Prize for Fiction was founded, to recognize the best original full-length novel in English by a woman, published in the […]

Three African books have been shortlisted for the 2018 LAMBDA Literary Awards for queer writers: the memoir Lives of Great Men: Living and Loving as an African Gay Man, by Chike Frankie Edozien, for Best Gay Memoir/Biography; the anthology Queer Africa 2: New Stories, edited by Makhosazana Xaba and Karen Martin, for Best LGBTQ Anthology; and […]

Prominent digital platform for African culture, OkayAfrica, has released its annual “100 Women” list celebrating “extraordinary women from Africa and the diaspora making waves across a wide array of industries, while driving positive impact in their communities and the world at large.” The OkayAfrica 100 Women 2018 List is spread across ten categories: STEM; literature; TV and film; sports and wellness; style […]