A week in the heart of coldness

Tolu Ogunlesi has an interesting piece on the recent celebration of African literature in Oslo:
"Returning a little over a year later for a week-long celebration of African literature organised by the Oslo House of Literature, I'm more forgiving. The city is not that ugly after all. But with a population of about half a million, it will always be a Tiny City in my estimation. Half a million people will be a housing estate in Lagos, I think."

From left to right are some of the African writers who took part in the celebration: Petina Gappah, Chenjerai Hove, Niq Mhlongo.

ENJOY!

NLNG opens literature prize to all Nigerians

Just heard this:
"Nigerian writers seem to have their way with the Literature Committee of the NLNG Prize for Literature, after six years of criticisms and agitation.

The committee, in an announcement released to reporters on Wednesday evening, shifted grounds on two key issues that has agitated writers: the residency condition, which bars non-resident writers in the country from submitting their works for the prize and non disclosure of the identity of judges - which have caused friction between it and writers since the inception of the prize in 2004. ..."

I don't know whether this will solve Nigeria's intellectual crisis, and that in literature, but it is at least comforting to hear that the organizers are taking people's criticisms seriously.
Anyway read and judge for yourself.

An Elegy for the Easterl Up for Another Award

Petina Gappah's An Elegy for the Easterly has been nominated for Zimbabwe's National Award. Same with Brian Chikwava's Harare North.
Good to hear that these writers are getting the recognition they deserve. I strongly believe that Zimbabwe shall rise.
Here are the details from Ms Gappah's blog.

Quality Street by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is back with an exciting short story, titled "Quality."
Here's the beginning:
"They were drinking tea. One of the few things that Mrs. Njoku and her daughter Sochienne could still do together without acrimony was drink tea, because when Mrs. Njoku suggested they go to the new boutique on Victoria Island, or Titi’s Place for a facial, things they used to do together in Lagos before Sochienne went away to university in America, Sochienne called her a fat bourgeois, a dilettante dancing while Nigeria was failing, as though she could somehow solve the country’s problems by depriving herself of a manicure. But this, drinking tea, was neutral—as long as it was without fresh milk."
ENJOY

EMAIL FROM AMERICA: Onitsha, Their Onitsha

Ikhide Ikheloa reviews Le Clezio's book,Onitsha
He is of the opinion that the otherwise well-written novel is no better than Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. Here's a taste of his's assessment.
"Onitsha written by French author and 2008 Nobel laureate J. M. G. Le Clézio is a beautiful piece of fiction. Originally written in French and translated into English in 1997, it bears prose that steals your heart. Le Clézio can sustain quiet tension in a book and build up suspense. It does get silly in places where it succumbs to a puzzlingly mythical babble in which case it deteriorates from haunting prose to malarial hallucinations about the deities of Egypt and Ethiopia. As for the content and what it says about how the West sees Africans, it is an ugly book; for it reveals the insidious patronising attitudes of white liberals."

Personally I am tired of giving any attention to those works of fiction written by Westerners about Africa. The West seems to have devised an insidious means of pinning our intellect down to the game of defense, always having to redress their messy image of Africa. That pisses me off. The funny thing though, is that if we do not talk back, or at least show our disapproval, the messy image begins to gain some hints of authenticity. Still, I'm pissed off.
Anyway, here is Ikheloa's piece. ENJOY