You know how you run a blog and you start getting worried that its starting to look like you are running a shrine to a specific author? No? Well that’s how its looking this week with South African author Lauren Beukes. So a few days ago I was gushing about her announcement that her book […]
Author Henrietta Rose-Innes is a South African with four books to her credit. The first two of her books Shark’s Egg (2001) and The Rock Alphabet (2004) were published by Kwela books. On her debut novel Shark’s Egg J.M. Coetzee had this to say, “Henrietta Rose-Innes writes an admirably taut, clean prose. Shark’s Egg is […]
We all know the benefits of the Caine Prize to you as an African writer. The people who have been short listed and who have won it in the last fifteen years have had it good. Real good. Some of these names are now the biggest names in the African writing game so being one […]
Storymoja Publishers is most famous for the annual literary festival that they host in Nairobi, Kenya. They are also the people behind several titles. They are also the people who have several initiatives that they push to ensure that they spread the importances of reading. One of their most noteworthy initiatives to bring the focus […]
Dinachi Onuzo is Nigerian musician who was born in Lagos but is now based in London, England. The musician plays a blend of jazz, folk, highlife and gospel. Dinachi Onuzo is the sister of one of our favourite Nigerian writers Chibundu Onuzo and Sahara Reporters are reporting that the two have come out with a […]
The big story in Kenya right now is the #NgiluSinghJokes that have been trending on the Kenyan twitter. The jokes as a back story started when the police teargassed Kenyan school kids in what many considered a land grab by a powerful Kenyan. The lands minister or Cabinet Secretary as we call them here tabled […]
Kenyan writer Ciku Kimeria is one of the new novelists to watch in the continent. Her weirdly titled novel “Of Goats and Poisoned Oranges” is described as the tumultuous marriage of a middle-aged Kenyan power couple living in the hills of Mount Kenya as it is told by different parties in their life. After a […]
Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor is probably one of my favourite writers to come to the African literature scene in the last decade or so. The Kenyan burst onto the scene winning the 2003 Caine Prize for African Writing for her story Weight of Whispers. The story was about an aristocratic Rwandan refugee who is displaced by […]
Lauren Beukes came back from the US back to Mzansi and posted the following tweet that was favourited and retweeted like crazy; G’bye America and thanks for all the fish. I’m leaving with a TV deal for Broken Monsters in the works and a freaking suitcase full of books — Lauren Beukes (@laurenbeukes) September 25, […]
The Edgar Allan Poe Awards (popularly called the Edgars), named after Edgar Allan Poe, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America, based in New York City, USA. They honor the best in mystery fiction, non-fiction, television, film, and theater published or produced in the previous year. On the nominees list for 2015 […]
2014 was a great year for Africa’s literature and a slew of festivals across the continent. So with the new year still upon us I figured that for planning purposes some of you would like to join in on the fun. Here is a list of events that will be happening in the next twelve […]
The International prize for Arabic fiction was set up in 2007 to address limited international availability of Arabic literature. The prize is one of the richest in writing in this part of the world as US$50,000 goes to the winner of the prize and shortlisted writers go home with US$10,000. The winner also gets translated […]
This morning I spent time reading a two part series from ThisIsAfrica.me, a website that does a lot of writing about the identity of Africans. The title of the series written by Rachel Hamada is “We need new stories”. The main thrust of the series, as I read it, is that there is a need […]
The Giller Prize is Canada’s premiere fiction prize and awards the writer of the best English-language book with $100,000. Each runner-up gets $10,000. Nigerian born Helen Oyeyemi has been announced as one of the jury members of the 2015 Scotiabank Giller Prize. She joins Cecil Foster, Alexander MacLeod and Alison Pick. Irish writer John Boyne […]
Its taken its time but it is now here. The Jalada 02: Afrofuture(s) anthology was launched at midnight yesterday in Nairobi. It’s the third anthology of the Jalada Writers Collective and this edition has work from voices as diverse as Richard Ali, Jude Dibia, Okwiri Oduor, Ivor Hartmann, Lydia Kasese and Melisa Kiguwa . The […]
