Posts in category arts

Every year since 2013, writers from all over the continent converge on Kampala, Uganda, for the Writivism Festival, an event that takes place over four days and culminates in an award ceremony. This year, the festival took place at The Square from 16 to 21 August. Amidst books and booze on the rooftop of a building with a serene view of the city’s magnificent hills, writers got to connect with fellow writers – and a community was built.

Molemo Kgomo launched Ntombenhle Dolls in 2005 when she recognized the need for a doll that could capture her culture and bring it to life for her daughter and generations to come. The dolls celebrate the heritage of various South African cultural groups as they are dressed in apparel representing the following 8 cultural groups: Zulu, Sotho, Pedi, Swazi, Ndebele, Venda, Tsonga and Xhosa.

Peju Alatise is one of Nigeria’s leading visual artists. Her works were showcased at the 57th Venice Biennale where for the first time the Nigerian Pavilion was in place. Alatise’s works have been said to be “filled with strong societal narratives on the realities of life in Africa.” She recently won the FNB Art Prize.

African writers in the diaspora have consistently garnered awards for their works, telling stories that are beautiful and touching. Yaa Gyasi, a Ghanaian born writer recently won the American Book Awards for her novel Homegoing.

“Irrespective of whether you write blog posts, long form or short articles, once you start producing text content for your newspaper or editorial staff on a regular basis, you’re already a step closer to non-fiction. You can already write a book! You are all writers already, you just need to be given a better outlook on what’s already before your eyes.”

Nigerian reggae artist Patoranking has become the first African to perform at the Reggae Sumfest Festival, the largest concert festival in Jamaica. The Nigerian artist who is currently a judge in The Voice Nigeria is living true to the testimony of his first album God Over Everything.

Award-winning author Nnedi Okorafor is a writer of color joining the blockbuster fantasy franchises as HBO is developing a series adaptation of her post-apocalyptic Africa novel “Who Fears Death”. We look forward to the addition of an African voice and perspective to the blockbuster fantasy franchises.

Vanessa Kingori; the youngest and first female publisher of British GQ and the first black publisher in Condé Nast UK’s 100-year history; was recognized with an MBE in the Queen’s 90th Birthday Honors List 2016.

The Caine Prize for African Writing, described as Africa’s leading literary award this year went to Bushra al-Fadil for his short story entitled “The Story of the Girl Whose Birds Flew Away”, translated by Max Shmookler, published in The Book of Khartoum – A City in Short Fiction (Comma Press, UK. 2016).

The Kaduna Book and Arts Festival (#KABAFEST) in northern #Nigeria kicked off yesterday despite a number of online attacks and prodding to boycott the event. The festival, which has been announced would be an annual event will run from the 5th to the 8th of July, 2017. Sudanese writer and the first Caine Prize winner Leila Aboulela will headline the festival while other writer like Dami Ajayi, Toni Kan, Titilope Sonuga, Efe Paul Azino, Kadaria Ahmed among others will be joined by HRH Lamido Sanusi Lamido and Matthew Kukah for various panel discussions. The festival is in its first edition and it has seen a massive turnout.