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Features, Stories and Poems, Submission 2019/01/19

Clickbait | Saddiq Dzukogi | Poetry

image by Esther Vargas from flickr

Inspired by the Western media coverage of the Dusit Hotel terror attack in Nairobi.   At the Dusit restaurant in Nairobi men slumped over tables, crowded   with laptops and smashed plates, dead from gunshot wounds.   This is now where your hands pick what eyes consume. Our dead   displayed like a commodity. A […]

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Features 2019/01/18

Algerian Poet Azraj Omar Decries Arab Lack of Knowledge About Black African Literature

arab weekly book buyer

Algerian poet Azraj Omar has, in a piece titled “Arab World’s Unjustified Neglect of African Literature,” decried what he describes as the lack of “openness on African culture in the Maghreb.” Writing in The Arab Weekly, he calls out the lack of knowledge, writing that “Not even Arab scholars and so-called critics know much about the […]

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Features, Lit Scene, News 2019/01/18

Zoe Wicomb Talks Intersectionality, Reading Other Writers, and That Time When Heinemann Put Her Photo in Bessie Head’s 1971 Novel, Maru

Zoe Wicomb - image from stias.ac.za

In a new interview in The Johannesburg Review of Books, South African novelist Zoe Wicomb revealed an error by Heinemann in their 1971 publication of Bessie Head’s novel Maru. The interview, excerpted from Wicomb’s new book Race, Nation, Translation: South African Essays, 1990-2013, is conducted by the collection’s editor Andrew van der Vlies and centres on intersectionality […]

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Features, Lit Scene 2019/01/18

GoFundMe | Please Donate to Help Logan February Go on Book Tour in the US

logan february books

Logan February, a young Nigerian poet who has published three books of poetry, is seeking donations for a scheduled book tour in the US beginning in March. The tour, which he is ceaselessly working to make happen, is for the promotion of his newest collection, Mannequin in the Nude, and will take him to Portland, […]

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Features, Lit Scene, News 2019/01/18

Translator Publishes List of 146 Books by 66 African Authors Selling in Chinese

african lit in chinese

A translator of English into Chinese, Bruce Humes, has published a list of 146 books by 66 African authors selling in China. In his list, some of the books, likely academic texts, are grouped under “Introduction to African Drama,” “Introduction to African Epics,” “Introduction to African Literature,” “Poetry Collections,” “Short Story Collections,” and “Taiwan Editions.” […]

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Features, News 2019/01/16

Kenyans Criticize The New York Times’ Publication of Victims’ Photos from Dusit Hotel Terrorist Attack, Call for Editor’s Removal as Twitter Suspends Paper’s Handle

dusit terror - daily active kenya

Kenyans are rightly criticizing The New York Times‘ publication of victims’ photos from the January 15 Al Shabaab terrorist attack on Dusit D2 Hotel and Secret Gardens restaurant, Riverside Complex, Nairobi, which claimed 21 lives, according to an updated report by The Star. The graphic photos were posted on Twitter and swiftly drew backlash. The American […]

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Features, Lit Scene, News 2019/01/15

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Opens Official Twitter Account to Forestall Impersonators Collecting Speaking Fees on Her Behalf

adichie twitter

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, who began personally using her Facebook page in 2016 and who joined Instagram in 2017, is now on Twitter. The move was made by the author to forestall impersonators. In the past few years, she had stressed that she was not on Twitter. The account, which was opened in October 2018 and currently […]

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Features, Lit Scene, News 2019/01/15

At 81, Ngugi wa Thiong’o Announces 34th Book, a Gikuyu Philosophical Epic Novel, 13 Years After His Last

ngugi wa thiong'o - image by leonardo cendamo for leemage - graph

Thirteen years after his last novel Wizard of the Crow, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, who turned 81 on 5 January, has a new one forthcoming. Kenda Muiyuru: Rugano Rwa Gikuyu na Mumbi, published in Gikuyu by East African Educational Publishers, is, according to Kenya’s The Standard, “a ground-breaking epic that subverts patriarchy and roots for social equity.” The […]

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Features 2019/01/14

Kabaka Magazine, Co-founded by Romeo Oriogun and Chibuihe Achimba, Is Set to Amplify Queer Voices in African Literature | Read Issue #1

KABAKA ISSUE 1

In late 2016, the Nigerian poets Romeo Oriogun and Chibuihe Achimba began discussing the possibility of creating a platform for queer […]

Features 2019/01/14

Review | Ebenezer Obadare Takes On Jiving Pastors and Thieving Politicians in Pentecostal Republic | Ikhide Ikheloa

ebenezer obadare - pentecostal republic (1)

Often when one thinks of African writing, it is often about fiction. African fiction is widely celebrated globally, with the […]

Features 2019/01/14

Sefi Atta Talks History, Her New Novel, and Writing about the Lagos Elite: In Conversation with Toni Kan

Sefi Atta the bead collector toni kan

Sefi Atta’s latest novel, The Bead Collector, is historical fiction as well as an ideological treatise. But it is also, […]

Features 2019/01/12

Writing with Style | Tobi Alaaka

african books - bookshy

Oris Aigbokhaevbolo’s two-day workshop, Write with Style, is both an effort to create a learning space for a growing demographic […]

Features 2019/01/12

Kwame Dawes, Zoe Wicomb, Gabeba Baderoon, Juliane Okot Bitek Lead 2019 Artists In Residency Shortlists

AIR 2019 - kwame dawes, helen moffet

Thirty-four writers, filmmakers, visual artists, and musicians have been shortlisted for the 2019 Artists In Residency (AIR) programme, including Africa […]

Features 2019/01/11

Brittle Paper Award Winner Itiola Jones Will Be Teaching an Online Poetry Workshop: The Singing Bullet | Apply for $200 Scholarship to Participate

itiola jones - the singing bullet

Brittle Paper Award for Poetry 2018 winner Itiola Jones will be teaching an online poetry workshop. Now in its third […]

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