The Italians have a new reality show called The Masterpiece. The show is a play on the shows that we are all familiar with like Big Brother. In this version of the show, aspiring authors vie at literary challenges until one contestant wins a major book deal. The new show has three judges, one of […]
Month: December 2014
Egyptian Naguib Mahfouz won the 1988 Nobel Prize for Literature and is regarded as one of the first contemporary writers of Arabic literature. He published 34 novels, over 350 short stories, dozens of movie scripts, and five plays over a 70-year career. Since 1996 the American University in Cairo (AUC) Press the Nobel laureates publisher […]
Yesterday we gave a report from the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) convention that ended last weekend in the West African nation. The images here kindly submitted by the gang at ANA aren’t world class, they are writers after all, but they give a good feel for the event and the action. Enjoy.
The Folio Prize is the first major English language book prize open to writers from around the world published in the UK. The prize is shaped by The Folio Prize Academy, an international group of people, mainly writers and critics, immersed in the world of books and play a decisive role in selecting titles to […]
Author Richard Ali gives us a run down of the Association of Nigerian Authors convention that ended last weekend. Africa’s largest national authors Association, the Association of Nigerian Authors, concluded its 33rd Convention on Saturday 13th December 2014. The annual three-day write-fest was held at the historical city of Ibadan in southwestern Nigeria, formerly Africa’s […]
So last week Oduor Jagero did the launch for his book True Citizen in Kampala, Uganda. The author shared these images from his Ugandan adventure which happened at Plot 52 Bukoto Street, Kamwokya the other Thursday.
Book: The Hairdresser of Harare Author: Tendai Huchu Publisher: Freight Books/Weavers Press Zimbabwe Year of publication: 2013/2010 Number of pages: 236 Genre: Fiction Tendai Huchu’s debut novel The Hairdresser of Harare is the story of two main characters; Vimbai and Dumisani. Vimbai is the star hairdresser at the Khumalo Hair and Beauty Treatment Salon in […]
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A few months ago I was in pain. Without an African author on the short or long list of the Booker Prize for 2014 I was left bereft and I put out an appeal to the organisers of this most respected literary prize. I’m not saying my letter had any effect (I believe it had […]
Book: Eat Drink & Blame The Ancestors Author: Ndumiso Ngcobo Publisher: Two Dogs Year of publication: 2014 Number of pages: 287 Genre: Satire, essays In Kenya for many years, the most looked forward read in the newspapers was a column called “Whispers” in the Sunday Nation written by a gentleman called Wahome Mutahi. The column […]
And then there were three. The judges for the Etisalat Prize for African literature have whittled down the long list of writers and those next in the line were announced. The three shortlistees in the running for next awards are Nadia Davids, for An Imperfect Blessing (Random House Struik-Umuzi), Chinelo Okparanta for Happiness Like Water […]
I really should have flagged this Top Fiction Books by the Washington Post in November but I somehow missed out on it. I really just discovered the list when some pals forwarded to me a link of one Ayelet Waldman who was #WhiningWhileWhite that she had failed to included in the notable books of the […]
For those in Kampala and Johannesburg there are some very cool literary events for you today. In Jozi, Caine Prize nominee 2011 Beatrice Lamwaka will be joining South Africans Mandla Langa, Makhosazana Xaba and Masande Ntshanga to read extracts from their latest novels and poetry collections. They will be discussing their work with Michele Magwood […]
Its been happening literature wise in Zimbabwe the last few days as LitFest Harare rolled into that nation’s largest city. LitFest Harare is headed by poet and writer Chirikure Chirikure its Director and Dr Edgar Mberi, a writer, critic and lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe the Steering Committee Chair. It was supported by the […]
Uganda’s only Caine Prize winner Monica Arac de Nyeko was yesterday selected by the University of Groningen as its Alumnus of the Year 2014. This is a singular honour as the university has over 110,000 alumni all round the world to select from and they picked our East African writer. The writer and UNICEF humanitarian […]
