Georgia College and State University’s Creative Writing Program is hosting a virtual African Writers Festival.
The two-day event, focused on the theme “connections and illumination,” is led by award-winning author Chika Unigwe, currently assistant professor at GCSU’s Department of English. It brings together writers from different parts of the continent, including Yvonne Adhiambo Owour, Elnathan John, Maaza Mengiste, Novuyo Tshuma, Sulaiman Adonnia, Lebo Mashile, Wana Udobang, Wadza Mhute, Ukamaka Olisakwe, Nnedi Okorafor, Francesca Ekwuyasi, Tendai Huchu and Mona Eltahawy.
The event is held in partnership with the Dean’s Office of the College of Arts and Sciences and the Center for International Studies at GCSU
Registration is open to the public. If you’re interested, click here to register.
Here is the festival schedule:
Friday, February 26, 2021
Session 1: Politics and Feminism (4pm-7pm EST)
- 4:00-4:05pm EST: Brief welcome by GCSU MFA Program Coordinator Dr. Kerry Neville, followed by a brief introduction of Dr. Chika Unigwe.
- 4:05-4:30pm EST: Mona Eltahawy, keynote address: Politics and Feminism with a brief introduction by Dr. Chika Unigwe
- 5:00-5:55pm EST: Mona Eltahawy and Maaza Mengiste in conversation
- 6:00-6:30pm EST: Poetry performance: Wana Udobang
- 6:30pm-7:30pm EST: Reading by Ukamaka Olisakwe, and Q & A with Dr. Chika Unigwe
Saturday, February 27, 2021
Session 2: Black Bodies: Writing the Past, the Present and the Future (11am-1:30pm EST)
- 11:00am-11:05am EST: Brief welcome and introduction by Dr. Chika Unigwe
- 11:05-11:55am: Wadza Mhute in conversation with Novuyo Tshuma and Yvonne Owuor Mona Eltahawy and Maaza Mengiste
- 12:00-12:55pm EST: Elnathan John and Wadza Mhute in conversation with Ukamaka Olisakwe, Novuyo Tshuma and Yvonne Owuor
- 1:00-1:30pm EST: Poetry performance: Lebolang Mashile
Session 3: Africanfuturism, Silence, Sexuality and Gender (2pm-4:45pm EST)
- 2:00-2:55pm EST: Wadza Mhute Elnathan John in conversation with Nnedi Okorafor and Ukamaka Evelyn Olisakwe
- 3:00-3:30pm EST: Reading by Sulaiman Addonia
- 3:35-4:35 pm EST: Francesca Ekwuyasi and Tendai (T.L) Huchu in conversation
- 4:35-4:45pm EST: Brief Closing Remarks: Dr. Chika Unigwe.
Find out more about the festival here.
ainyang February 05, 2021 18:44
Great initiative! Have this! Scourging Heat We’ve been baking in unprecedented heat. Sweating and dripping with droplets of blood. Narratives, events of politics and history fanned into flames of senseless crises. Raging, cracking like wild fires, ravaging homes. Tearing and roasting flesh. Across the windows of the ocean wide we see avalanches of cold flakes flying down, settling into bricks, forming tall, white mountains. Snow, snow everywhere. Something we need here, perhaps, To cool down the scourging heat. But, yet, over there we hear cries for the heat. To thaw the icing snow. But certainly not the heat events we face here daily. Certainly not this type they yearn for, certainly not the flesh-roasting heat consuming us. (C) Ekpe Inyang 5 February 2021