Ugandan academic and activist Dr. Stella Nyanzi currently incarcerated at Luzira Prison serving an 18-month sentence for ‘cyber harassment’ has won the 2020 Oxfam Novib/PEN International Award.
African writer
Arts and Culture Author Tsitsi Dangarembga’s hope for a local #MeToo movement
Prolific Zimbabwean author Tsitsi Dangarembga has expressed her hope of starting a #MeToo campaign in Zimbabwe to highlight the abuse and discrimination suffered by women, as the viral movement has yet to make waves in her country and many other African countries.
Arts and Culture Tsitsi Dangarembga releases ‘This Mournable Body’, the final book in her trilogy
Twenty-nine years after the world-famous Zimbabwean author Tsitsi Dangarembga’s first novel, Nervous Conditions, comes the last book of her thrilling trilogy. In ‘This Mournable Body’, fans will once again encounter the protagonist Tambudzai Sigauke, but this time as an adult struggling to survive.
Arts and Culture Nigerian author Teju Cole gives intimate reading at Jazzhole
Nigerian author Teju Cole recently spoke about his work in a reading at Jazzhole, a bookshop in Lagos. Cole read an essay from Granta Magazine and took questions on his books Everyday Is For The Thief, Open City, Strange and Known Things: Essay, and Blind Spot.
Arts and Culture Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart named in BBC’s 100 stories that shaped the world
Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart has been named in BBC’s 100 stories that shaped the world, making it into the top 5. BBC Culture asked writers around the globe to pick stories that have endured across generations and continents – and changed society. Other great African literary works on the list include Tsitsi Dangarembga’s Nervous Conditions, and Children of Gebelawi written by Egyptian novelist Naguib Mahfouz.
Arts and Culture Prof Wole Soyinka urges Nigeria’s anti-corruption body to arrest corrupt leaders
Nigeria’s anti-corruption body has been criticised by the public for its perceived soft stance on political actors. Nobel Laureate Prof Wole Soyinka recently addressed the 8th Commonwealth Conference for Heads of Anti-Corruption Agencies, and urged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to arrest corrupt leaders.
Arts and Culture Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and Chimamanda’s Americanah named among 100 Books to feature in ‘The Great American Read’
Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s bestselling book Americanah have been named in the list of 100 Books to feature in ‘The Great American Read’ TV Series. The series “celebrates the power of reading, told through the prism of America’s 100 best-loved novels (as chosen in a national survey)”.
Arts and Culture Things Fall Apart named one of 12 novels considered the “Greatest Book Ever Written”
Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart has been named one of 12 novels considered “the Greatest Book Ever Written”. The book was named on the list compiled by Encyclopaedia Brittanica, and Achebe masterpiece is named amongst other great literary works. Here is our selection of 10 quotes from Things Fall Apart.
Politics and Society Ugandan writer Jennifer Makumbi wins $165,000 Windham-Campbell Prize
Ugandan writer Jenninfer Makumbi is the latest recipient of the $165,000 Windham Campbell Prize. The Prize is awarded every year to eight artists. Makumbi is the author of Kintu, a novel based on Buganda oral history and myth.