We give you a list of events from across the African and Black Literature world you can attend in August 2021. Updated regularly. Send us your event to be listed here.
Sunday, August 1
Monday, August 2
Tuesday, August 3
Event: Nana Nkweti in conversation with Novuyo Rosa Tshuma
Event Type: Author chat
Venue: Virtual (Zoom)
Time: 6pm US ET
Language: English
Details: On poster
Event: Publishing Africa Seminar Series featuring Walter Bgoya (Mkuki Na Nyota Publishers)
Event Type: Publisher forum
Venue: Virtual (Zoom)
Time: 4-5pm CAT
Language: English
Details: Click here.
Walter Bgoya discusses a few issues pertinent to African publishers from his 49 years in publishing. He shall speak on African publishers’ paralysing dependency on textbook publishing; and unethical practices and domination of the textbook industry by multinational corporations. He shall also make a few comments on Scholarly publishing and why money is not the only problem. He shall, self critically address the narrow perspectives of the industry of most African publishers; why African private publishers’ appear to have neither the support of the states nor of the people; and finally why the prospects of the African publishers in the near term appear bleak.
Wednesday, August 4
Thursday, August 5
Event: Book Discussion: The Sex Lives of African Women by Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah
Event Type: Book discussion
Venue: Virtual (Zoom)
Time: 5pm WAT
Language: English
Details: Click here.
Join Black feminist author Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah to talk about her book The Sex Lives of African Women in which she features the stories of more than 30 women giving us rare insights into how they navigate, negotiate and enjoy sex, sexuality and relationships across generations and borders.
Among them are monogamous, polyamorous, kinky, queer, transgender and celibate stories. Nana will be joined by the African feminist writer and editor Rosebell Kagumire – who reviewed the book for openDemocracy. The discussion will be chaired by our 5050 Tracking the Backlash’s East Africa Reporting Fellow, Khatondi Soita Wepukhulu.
Join us on 5 August 2021 at 5pm UK time/12pm EDT for a free, live discussion as we explore this topic with an expert panel
Friday, August 6
Event: Benue Book and Arts Festival 2021
Event Type: Literary festival
Venue: Virtual (Zoom)
Time: All day
Language: English
Details: Click here.
Benue Book and Arts Festival 2021 is in its 3rd year after having its maiden edition in 2019 and comes up this year from 5th to 7th August 2021. The event will hold virtually via Zoom and social media channels on 5th August 2021 and in-person in tentatively at the Benue State University, Makurdi, on 6th and 7th August 2021. The opening ceremony starts at 9:30AM on the 6th with registration, while official events start by 10:30AM.
Saturday. August 7
Event: Twilight of Crooks by Mwalimu Johnnie MacViban launches
Event Type: Book launch
Venue: Virtual (Facebook)
Time: 2pm WAT
Language: English
Details: Click here.
Join us for the launch of Twilight of Crooks on Saturday, 7 August, around a glass of wine. Mwalimu Johnnie MacViban will be in conversation with Babila Mutia at the Muna Foundation at 2pm.
Event: Reading and Conversation on The Sea of Dragonflies with Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor
Event Type: Author chat
Venue: Cologne, Germany
Time: 7:30pm CET
Language: English
Details: Click here.
Guy Helminger (writer) moderates, Davina Donaldson (actress) reads excerpts from the novel, and Azizè Flittner (actress) interprets into German.7th September 2021, 7:30 p.m. at Literaturhaus Köln.Tickets: 11 € / 9 € via www.literaturhaus-koeln.de
Event: Gaborone Book Festival’s #GBFWinterSeries hosts Tlotlo Tsamaase
Event Type: Author event
Venue: Virtual (Facebook, Twitter)
Time: 4pm CAT
Language: English
Details: On poster
Our next #GBFWinterSeries guest is the talented Tlotlo Tsamaase, a Motswana writer of fiction and poetry making waves. #Arebaleng #GBF21
Sunday, August 8
Event: Reading and Conversation on The Sea of Dragonflies with Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor
Event Type: Author chat
Venue: Alte Feuerwache Cologne, Large Forum, Germany
Time: 7:30pm CET
Language: English
Details: Click here.
Hard talk with the author, Yvonne A. Owuor, on geopolitics, neoliberalism, and re-storying African realities, moderated by Anthony Obute (doctoral fellow in Literature and Cultural Studies at University of Tübingen). Tickets: 8 € / 6 € at the door
Monday, August 9
Event: Nadia Owusu Aftershocks launches
Event Type: Book launch
Venue: Virtual (Zoom)
Time: 7:30pm US ET
Language: English
Details: On poster.
Aftershocks comes out in paperback in the US on Aug 3, featuring baby Nadia on the cover! Thank you to all who have read the book. It means the world to me! I hope you’ll consider recommending it. Also, I’ll be launching on 8/9 [email protected]&@greenlightbklyn! Join us!
Tuesday, August 10
Wednesday, August 11
Event: African Kit Lit and Africa’s many languages
Event Type: Panel discussion
Venue: Virtual (Facebook)
Time: 3 pm GMT, 4pm BST/WAT, 5 pm EAT
Language: English
Details: Click here.
Event: Remembering by Andile Gaelesiwe
Event Type: Book discussion
Venue: Virtual (Facebook, YouTube)
Time: 6pm CAT
Language: English
Details: On poster
Event: African Book Talk – ‘Tread Brightly-Notes on Ethical Travel’ with Sarika Bansal
Event Type: Book launch
Venue: Virtual (Zoom)
Time: 4pm EAT
Language: English
Details: Click here.
Columbia Global Centers | Nairobi is pleased to introduce our ongoing virtual book series featuring African authors! Join us as we engage in this conversation with Sarika Bansal and Hassan Ghedi Santur. As you interact with the original featured essays in the book, you will learn how you can turn travel from passive consumption to an active exchange and how to impact the lives of others through your excursions.
Event: The Briefcase launches
Event Type: Book launch
Venue: Virtual (Facebook)
Time: 6pm CAT
Language: English
Details: On Poster
Event: Charlotte Nicole Davis and Bethany C. Morrow in discussion
Event Type: Author chat
Venue: Virtual (Facebook)
Time: 11pm GMT
Language: English
Details: Click here.
Charlotte Nicole Davis and Bethany C. Morrow discuss their new books, THE SISTERS OF RECKONING and A CHORUS RISES
Thursday, August 12
Event: Remy Ngamihje in conversation with Maaza Mengiste
Event Type: Author chat
Venue: Virtual (Zoom)
Time: 4pm US ET
Language: English
Details: Click here.
Remy Ngamije the author of The Eternal Audience of One in conversation with Maaza Mengiste.
Friday, August 13
Saturday. August 14
Event: Virtually Yours with Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu
Event Type: Book discussion
Venue: Virtual (Zoom)
Time: 3pm CAT
Language: English
Registration: Click here.
Goethe-Institut’s Virtual Gatherings – with contemporary authors from Africa. Virtually Yours aims to create an online platform for avid readers, writers, academics, publishers, agents, and anyone else interested in literature by writers from Africa. The series of online discussions held once a month from October have featured Niq Mhlongo, Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi, Tendai Huchu, and Natasha Omokhodion-Kalulu Banda.
Featuring in August is Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu discussing her newest novel The History of Man.
Event: Gaborone Book Festival’s #GBFWinterSeries hosts Lerato Mogoatlhe writer of Vagabond.
Event Type: Author event
Venue: Virtual (Facebook, Twitter)
Time: 4pm CAT
Language: English
Details: On poster
Gaborone Book Festival’s #GBFWinterSeries hosts Lerato Mogoatlhe writer of Vagabond.
Sunday, August 15
Monday, August 16
Event: Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor at Edinburgh International Book Festival
Event Type: Literary Festival (Author Q&A)
Venue: Virtual (Facebook, YouTube)
Time: 7:15-8:15pm GMT
Language: English
Details: Click here.
‘In this dazzling novel you will find the entirety of human experience – tearshed, bloodshed, lust, love – in staggering proportions.’ So said Taiye Selasi about Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor’s debut novel Dust in 2015 – a book that heralded the arrival of a major international literary talent from Kenya. Now, Owuor’s second novel finally arrives in the UK, giving readers another chance to dive into her imagination – this time through the eyes of Ayaana, an exuberant but ethereal heroine who lives on an island off the coast of Kenya. With her partial Chinese ancestry, Ayaana is the fictional result of a real-life event: a 15th century Chinese shipwreck which left a number of Chinese people living on Africa’s east coast. Owuor’s novel is a magic realist marvel full of dragonflies and dreams, the ebb and flow of the ocean tides, and at the same time a worldly-wise exploration of human migration. Today she discusses her richly complex book with Fiammetta Rocco.This is a live event, with an author Q&A.
Tuesday, August 17
Event: Cheeky Natives host Sindiwe Magona
Event Type: Author event
Venue: Virtual (Facebook, YouTube)
Time: 6:30pm CAT
Language: English
Details: Click here.
Join Cheeky Natives for a live discussion with Sindiwe Magona whose newest book is When The Village Sleeps.
Wednesday, August 18
Event: #FEMRITEGoetheAuthorConversations with Lydia Minagano Kape
Event Type: Livestream
Venue: Virtual (YouTube, Zoom)
Time: 5pm EAT
Language: English
Details: On poster (click on YouTube or Zoom link above to join).
Join #FEMRITEGoetheAuthorConversations with Lydia Minagano Kape, a South Sudanese writer & activist. Jacob K.Mwine Kyarimpa, a writer, Literary critic& a PhD Fellow at the MISR will chair session
Thursday, August 19
Friday, August 20
Saturday. August 21
Sunday, August 22
Monday, August 23
Tuesday, August 24
Wednesday, August 25
Event: Kalaf Epalanga and Jessemusse Cacinda at James Murua Literary Livestream
Event Type: Livestream
Venue: Virtual (Facebook, YouTube, Twitter)
Time: 6pm GMT/7pm WAT/8pm CAT/9pm EAT
Language: English
Details: Click here.
Kalaf Epalanga and Jessemusse Cacinda are the guests of the James Murua Literary LiveStream on Wednesday, August 25, 2021 at 18:00 GMT/ 19:00 WAT/ 20:00 CAT/ 21:00 EAT. You can join the stream, brought to you in cooperation with Frankfurter Buchmesse with financial support from the German Federal Foreign Office, on Facebook, YouTube, or Twitter.
Thursday, August 26
Event: Sex Lives of African Women by Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah
Event Type: Book discussion
Venue: Accra, Ghana
Time: 7pm GMT
Language: English
Registration: Click here.
Come & experience Ayesha Harruna Attah, Nana Oforiatta Ayim & Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah in conversation with Darkowaa of book blog African Book Addict.
Learn how these authors delve into the complexities of Ghanaian women past and present.
Event: Mbogi ya MaWriters features Irungu Hougton
Event Type: Book discussion
Venue: Alliance Francaise, Nairobi
Time: 6pm EAT
Language: English
Details: Click here.
John Sibi Okumu will engage Irũngũ Houghton, author of Dialogue and Dissent, and other stakeholders to discuss the merits of civic education through reading.Katiba Institute- KI Official Amnesty International Kenya
Friday, August 27
Event: Ibua Journal launch
Event Type: Journal launch
Venue: To be announced.
Time: To be announced.
Language: English
Details: To be announced.
Event: Abubakar Adam Ibrahim Dreams and Assorted Nightmares
Event Type: Book launch
Venue: Abuja, Nigeria
Time: 5pm WAT
Language: English
Details: On poster
Saturday. August 28
Event: Johannesburg Institute for Advanced Studies hosts Mputumi Ntabeni
Event Type: Book discussion
Venue: Virtual (Zoom)
Time: 4pm CAT
Language: English
Registration: Click here.
Johannesburg Institute for Advanced Studies hosts Mputumi Ntabeni author of The Wanderers with a panel that includes Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu, Pelo Moji, and others.
Event: Imbiza Journal second issue virtual launch.
Event Type: Journal launch
Venue: Virtual (Zoom)
Time: 2pm CAT
Language: English
Registration: Click here.
You are invited to the virtual launch of Imbiza second issue.
Sunday, August 29
Monday, August 30
Tuesday, August 31
