Finalists for the Los Angeles Times Book Prizes have been announced. The Ethiopian novelist Maaza Mengiste is nominated in the Fiction category for her second novel The Shadow King, which is set during the second Italo-Ethiopian war and centers on women who fought in it. The Zambian novelist Namwali Serpell is nominated in the Ray […]
Tag Archives: maaza mengiste
The Anticipated Books of 2020
The year 2019 was full. In December, we released our list of The Notable Books of 2019. In January, we released our list of The Top 15 Debut Books of 2019. Now we look ahead into 2020 with our list of the most anticipated books of the year in fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. The buzz […]
These Books Helped Maaza Mengiste Write Her Ethiopian Warrior Women Novel, The Shadow King
Maaza Mengiste’s second novel The Shadow King is set during the second Italo-Ethiopian War (1935-7). It tells the story of the Ethiopian women who fought in it and whose version of events have since been deprioritized in historical records. Born 36 years after the war, the Ethiopian novelist and editor of the anthology Adis Ababa […]
The 2019 Brittle Paper Award for Essays & Think Pieces: Meet The 5 Finalists
The 5 Shortlists for The 2019 Brittle Paper Awards were announced in November. Begun in 2017 to mark our seventh anniversary, the Awards aim to recognize the finest, original pieces of writing by Africans published online. READ: The 2017 Brittle Paper Award for Essays & Think Pieces: Meet the Finalists READ: The 2018 Brittle Paper Award for […]
Is There a Quota of 5 Books by African Authors for Every “Best 100 Books of 2019” List?
As yet another year draws to a close, literary lists of various sorts are once again filling our newsfeeds. During the first week of November 2019, BBC Arts released a list titled “100 Novels That Shaped Our World.” On that list, Brittle Paper noted that there were five novels by African authors which, in the words […]
Maaza Mengiste’s The Shadow King Optioned for Film by Wonder Woman Producers
Since its publication on September 24, 2019, Maaza Mengiste’s The Shadow King has been making waves. It was featured on the front page of the October 13, 2019, issue of The New York Times Book Review and notably mentioned in the Los Angeles Review of Books and The New Yorker. The latest sign of The Shadow King‘s success, however, […]
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 […]
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