Africa Write

Introduction from Richard Dowden

Africa is changing fast; politically, economically, socially, culturally. In art, music, film and literature, there is a flowering of imagination, ideas and genres - whole new ways of feeling about Africa and expressing its griefs and joys. So we at RAS have organised this celebration of new writing which also looks back to that first flowering of African literature with the establishment of the African Writers Series 50 years ago. We believe African writers have again reached new heights. We hope that from now on Africa Writes will become an annual fixture in the London calendar of African events.

Speakers at this event include: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Ellen Banda-Aaku, Nuruddin Farah, Noo Saro-Wiwa and many other exciting writers and speakers.

ENJOY

The Problem of the African Reader

The Problem? Some might wonder why Africa has always to be associated with problems. Perhaps this author means challenges or perhaps just plain African Literature and its readership. But the essay is interesting.

An excerpt:
Every so often, a writer fires some missive on a blog, some minor journal or even a major newspaper eloquently stating the reason why they are a “writer” and NOT an “African writer”. The writer (usually with an African sounding name) then goes on to explain that Western writers somehow do not suffer this existential burden of a limiting label. “White writers” are simply “writers”, period, and if the African writer wishes to be appreciated by a wider audience, then they must cast off this label so they can become a “writer”.
ENJOY.

#Caineprize – The Thirteenth Caine Prize Shortlist: La Salle de Départ

Ikhide reviews another Caine Prize shortlisted story, "La Salle de Départ," by Melissa Tandiwe Myambo.

"It is very clever how Myambo buries the clues to the meanings in subsequent sentences, like a lovely and enchanting egg hunt."

ENJOY