Cassius Clay was on my mind all night. Even now in the morning, as I hurried home from my grandmother’s house, he was circling Oscar Bonavena, stinging his face with left-right combinations. Ping-ping. zing -zing. Bonavena lunged forward and attacked the air with sledge hammers for fists– vaap ! vaap! Clay called from behind him, […]
Tag Archives: COVID-19 pandemic
Teju Cole’s Spotify Playlists Offer Musical Solace for These Times
Among Teju Cole’s many talents is his ability to curate music that captures a mood or even the feel of a place. Since mid-March, when the lockdown began, Cole has been putting together playlists on Spotify that, as he explains on his Facebook page, are in line with the “gesture of sharing music in a […]
Tomi Adeyemi Recommends 5 Books to Escape Into While You’re Social Distancing
Wondering what’s on Tomi Adeyemi’s quarantine reading list? Adeyemi recently shared five books she is reading (and re-reading) during the global lockdown on O, The Oprah Magazine‘s Instagram Stories. Adeyemi’s appearance was part of the magazine’s “The Book Break” series, which asks a different author each week to share five books to escape into while […]
Life in the Time of COVID-19 | What Some of Your Favorite Authors Have Been Up To: Nnedi Okorafor, Sulaiman Addonia, Inua Ellams, and More
How many weeks has it been since social distancing became the norm? We’ve lost count, but we’ve definitely been admiring over this past April the ways by which our favorite authors are filling up that lockdown time — ranging from baking to biking to picking up a guitar and more. Check them out below. 1. […]
Namwali Serpell “Tweaches” a Lecture for an English Course
As one effect of the current global pandemic, teachers and professors across the world have moved their classes online. Namwali Serpell recently reinvigorated the notion of remote-teaching by “tweaching” — tweeting a lecture for a course she is currently teaching at the University of California-Berkeley, ENGL 145: Writing Technology. Update: I twaught. https://t.co/HdjpdWCi31 https://t.co/3steOIrWe7 — […]
Chimamanda Adichie Shares Her #QuarantineReads
What has Chimamanda Adichie been reading while staying at home during the current pandemic? In a series of stories-clips posted recently on her Instagram, Adichie shared three pieces of writing she’s been reading. The first is a poem, a favorite of hers, that she says “just feels very apt for this period.” The second and […]
#BooksAsOutfits Is the Twitter Trend for Lovers of Books and Fashion
If, like we do, you have a thing for beautiful book covers, then you might want to check out the latest Twitter trend: #BooksAsOutfits. Readers are battling COVID-19 lockdown boredom by sharing photos of books while wearing clothes of similar colours: it’s literature meets fashion at its most accessible. Here are a few posts from […]
The 2020 Ake Arts & Book Festival Moves Online
The 2020 Ake Arts and Book Festival will now be held online. Themed “Black Magic,” the festival, which is in its eighth year, was earlier announced to be scheduled for Lagos, from 22 to 25 October. The massive change is in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the social-distancing protocols it necessitates. Ake Arts and […]
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