Right after Bernardine Evaristo and Margaret Atwood were announced joint winners of the 2019 Booker Prize for Fiction, the UK’s The Guardian published a piece examining the judges’ decision to settle on two winners. The opinion, by the newspaper’s fiction editor Justine Jordan, was given a curious headline: “Booker judges split between huge event novel […]
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Bernardine Evaristo’s Joint Win of the Booker Prize, with Margaret Atwood, Makes Her the First Black Woman & Second Nigerian to Receive the Honour
The Nigerian-British novelist Bernardine Evaristo has been awarded the 2019 Booker Prize for Fiction, for her novel Girl, Woman, Other, her eighth book in a career gloriously distinguished both by experimental fiction and exceptional community service. It was a joint win with the Canadian novelist Margaret Atwood, whose The Testament, the sequel to the classic […]
Befeqadu Hailu, Ethiopian Writer-Activist & Co-founder of Zone 9 Blog, Named 2019 International Writer of Courage
Befeqadu Hailu, the Ethiopian writer, activist, and co-founder of the Amharic-language human rights platform Zone 9 Blogging Collective, has been named the 2019 International Writer of Courage at the PEN Pinter Prize ceremony at the British Library, London. As is the tradition, he was chosen by the recipient of the PEN Pinter Prize, who this […]
Kalaf Epalanga, Angolan Author & Musician, Named Curator of the 2020 African Book Festival in Berlin
The Angolan musician and author Kalaf Epalanga, who looks like the actor Mahershala Ali, has been announced as the curator of the 2020 African Book Festival in Berlin. The inaugural event in 2018, themed “Writing in Migration,” was curated by the Nigerian novelist Olumide Popoola. The 2019 event, themed “Transitioning from Migration” and headlined by […]
Addis Ababa Noir, Edited by Maaza Mengiste & Featuring Mahtem Shiferraw, Sulaiman Addonia, Linda Yohannes, Meron Hadero, Hannah Giorgis, Forthcoming in April 2020
Each anthology in Akashic Books’ noir series is “set in a distinct neighborhood or location within the respective city” and includes new fiction by writers from the country. Last year, the series published Lagos Noir, for Nigeria, edited by Chris Abani and featuring work by Nnedi Okorafor, Sarah Ladipo Manyika, E.C. Osondu, Jude Dibia, Chika […]
Unoma Azuah’s Embracing My Shadow, Nigeria’s First Memoir About Being Lesbian, Forthcoming in March 2020 & Now Available for Pre-order
Unoma Azuah, novelist, poet, academic, curator, and one of Nigeria’s leading LGBTQ rights activists, has a new book, her third, coming on 1 March 2020: her debut memoir, to be published by Beaten Track. Titled Embracing My Shadow: Growing Up Lesbian in Nigeria, it will be Nigeria’s first memoir about being lesbian. Embracing My Shadow […]
Laila Lalami, Scholastique Mukasonga, & Akwaeke Emezi Are Finalists for the 2019 National Book Awards
Moroccan American novelist Laila Lalami, Rwandan novelist Scholastique Mukasonga, and Nigerian novelist Akwaeke Emezi are finalists for the 2019 National Book Awards in the US. The 25 shortlisted books and authors fall under five categories: Young People’s Literature, Nonfiction, Fiction, Poetry, and Translated Literature. Lalami is nominated in the Fiction category for her fourth novel […]
Opening Speech at the 2019 International Literature Festival | Petina Gappah
Petina Gappah is the author of the short story collections An Elegy for Easterly and Rotten Row, and of the novels The Book of Memory and Out of Darkness, Shining Light. The following is an excerpt from her opening speech at the International Literature Festival in Berlin, delivered on 11 September 2019. I Across the […]
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