Zukiswa Wanner

Author: Wanner

  • July 9: Artistic Encounters with Tsitsi Dangarembga

    July 9: Artistic Encounters with Tsitsi Dangarembga

    Artistic Encounters is a project where artists from two different disciplines offered a performance combining their two specialities at the Goethe-Institut Nairobi. Typically, the anchor disciplines were either poetry or prose combining with the visual arts, music instruments, acting, and loads more. The artists came from Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, Botswana, Germany, South Africa, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Eritrea, and Sierra Leone.

    This July, another edition of Artistic Encounters is on the books with Hana Kefela and Wandiri Karimi doing their rendition of Tsitsi Dangarembga’s legendary debut Nervous Conditions at Cheche Books, Nairobi. Actress Hana Kefela returns to Artistic Encounters after a successful event doing her rendition of Pede Hollist novel So The Path Does Not Die. Wandiri Karimi who recently ended a role as director of the Kenya Conservatoire of Music and is the founder of the Kenya Conservatoire Women’s Orchestra will be making her debut in the series.

    The event will end with a question-and-answer session with Tsitsi Dangarembga moderated by Zukiswa Wanner.

  • June 11: Virtually Yours with Ibrahim El Khalil Diallo

    June 11: Virtually Yours with Ibrahim El Khalil Diallo

    Ibrahim El Khalil Diallo’s L’Odyssée des Oubliés is the featured book for the series “Virtually Yours,” which runs on June 11, 2022. He hosted by Goethe-Institut Senegal will be moderated by Renee Edwige Dro.

    Virtually Yours is a regional project of Goethe-Institut Sub Saharan Africa, a series of online discussions 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 has featured Abubakar Adam Ibrahim, Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor, Oswalde Lewat, Niq Mhlongo, Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi, Tendai Huchu, Natasha Omokhodion-Kalulu Banda, Ondjaki, Ishmael Beah, Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu, Rémy Ngamije, Nadifa Mohamed, and Ana Paula Tavares.

    Ibrahim El Khalil Diallo is one of the most promising young writers on the African continent. Born in Mauritania, he lives in Dakar. After being a finalist for the Orange Prize for Books in Africa 2019, the Prix Kourouma 2019 and the Prix Ivory 2019, he is the winner of the Prix Ahmed Baba 2021 and a finalist for the Kourouma Prize 2021.

    He will be talking about his book L’Odyssée des Oubliés (English translation: The Odyssey of the Forgotten).The event will run at the following times;

    04:00 PM Universal Time (UTC) Abidjan, Accra, Dakar

    05:00 PM West African Time (WAT) Lagos, Luanda, Yaoundé

    06:00 PM Central African Time (CAT) Windhoek, Johannesburg

    07:00 PM East African Time (EAT) Nairobi, Addis Abeba

    Those who wish to take part in this discussion should click here.

  • May 14: Virtually Yours with Yara Nakahanda Monteiro

    May 14: Virtually Yours with Yara Nakahanda Monteiro

    Yara Nakahanda Monteiro’s Loose Ties is the featured book for the series “Virtually Yours,” which runs on May 14, 2022. She will be moderated by Zukiswa Wanner. The event hosted by Goethe-Institut Namibia will run from 4pm GMT, 5pm WAT, 6pm CAT, and 7pm EAT.

    Virtually Yours is a regional project of Goethe-Institut Sub Saharan Africa, a series of online discussions 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 has featured Abubakar Adam Ibrahim, Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor, Oswalde Lewat, Niq Mhlongo, Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi, Tendai Huchu, Natasha Omokhodion-Kalulu Banda, Ondjaki, Ishmael Beah, Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu, Rémy Ngamije, and Nadifa Mohamed.

    The featured guest for May is Yara Nakahanda Monteiro featuring here novel Loose Ties an electrifying and colourful story, with shadows of an uncertain and shifting past. Victoria was raised in Portugal by her grandparents and bears the marks of a trauma she can’t get over: she never met her mother who was an Angolan freedom fighter. A few months before her wedding, Victoria flees to Angola in search of her mother and her identity – personal, racial, cultural and even sexual. She lands in Luanda at the dawn of the 21st century – a place of striking social contrasts, where the imported car is displayed alongside the most dreadful scenes of hunger. A place where the boundaries of tragedy and comedy seem blurred, a city where “everything kills”. Loose ties is both a story of love and of war, a contemporary tale that deals with the past, a call for the independence of women as political beings. And of their own bodies in search of freedom.

    Register for this Virtual Gathering at the link below and stand the chance of winning a copy by clicking here and stand the chance of winning a copy.

  • April 9: Virtually Yours with Ana Paula Tavares

    April 9: Virtually Yours with Ana Paula Tavares

    Ana Paula Tavares’ Entries For An Effective Diary is the featured book for the series “Virtually Yours,” which runs on April 9, 2022. She will be moderated by Ondjaki. The event hosted by Goethe-Institut Namibia will run from 4pm GMT, 5pm WAT, 6pm CAT, and 7pm EAT.

    Virtually Yours is a regional project of Goethe-Institut Sub Saharan Africa, a series of online discussions 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 has featured Abubakar Adam Ibrahim, Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor, Oswalde Lewat, Niq Mhlongo, Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi, Tendai Huchu, Natasha Omokhodion-Kalulu Banda, Ondjaki, Ishmael Beah, Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu, Rémy Ngamije, and Nadifa Mohamed.

    Ana Paula Tavares is an Angolan author, poet and historian. Tavares studied history at the University of Luanda and worked as a history teacher from 1973. At the end of the 1970’s, she moved to Lisbon and studied Afro-Lusitanian Studies and received a PHD in African history. The themes of her work are Angolan traditions and languages, love and war and especially the role of women in African society. She is one of the most prominent representatives of the postcolonial generation of Luso-African women poets.

  • Attending Time of the Writer 2022

    Attending Time of the Writer 2022

    I will be attending the Time of the Writer which is hosted in Durban, South Africa from March 14-22, 2022.

    Time of the Writer, organised by the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Centre for Creative Arts. is a literary festival hosted in Durban, South Africa since 1996.  The twenty fifth edition inspired by Africa’s Nobel Peace Prize winner, Chief Albert Luthuli, has the theme, “Beyond Words: Memory, Imagination & Conscience.” It will honour his legacy and commemorate the 60th anniversary of his autobiography, Let My People Go, which was published in 1962. It will critically reflect and engage with its participants to discuss whether Luthuli’s vision for a better South Africa has been served or been betrayed.

    Last year I was honoured to be the keynote speaker at one of my favourite literary festivals in the world, Time of the Writer. This year, I am delighted to be a participant in conversation with my sisterfriend and Paivapo author Nokuthula Mazibuko Msimang whose debut novel Daughters of Nandi is a beautiful work of fiction. And did I mention that she is the 25th Time of the Writer keynote? Nokuthula and I will also do a staged reading of the book with three other artists as directed by the genius Nondumiso Msimanga. It’s online and we will be delighted to have you in the audience.

  • March 12: Virtually Yours with Oswalde Lewat

    March 12: Virtually Yours with Oswalde Lewat

    Oswalde Lewat’s Les Aquatiques is the featured book for “Virtually Yours,” runs on March 12, 2022. She will be moderated by Edwige-Renée Dro. The event hosted by Goethe-Institut Abidjan will run from 4pm GMT, 5pm WAT, 6pm CAT, and 7pm EAT.

    Virtually Yours is a regional project of Goethe-Institut Sub Saharan Africa, a series of online discussions 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 has featured Abubakar Adam Ibrahim, Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor, Niq Mhlongo, Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi, Tendai Huchu, Natasha Omokhodion-Kalulu Banda, Ondjaki, Ishmael Beah, Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu, Rémy Ngamije, and Nadifa Mohamed.

    The featured guest for March is Photographer, director and writer Oswalde Lewat. Originally from Cameroon, she began to share her visual and narrative universe through documentary films. As an award-winning author of works that deal with socio-political issues and reflect on otherness, she published her first novel, Les Aquatiques, in August 2021.

    The Aquatics tells the story of an African woman, a teacher, married to a man of power, mother of two children, whose well-ordered, conventional world is turned upside down the day her best friend, the one she considers her brother, is arrested and thrown into prison.

    In February, the book won the Grand Prix Panafricain de Littérature the first running of the exciting new initiative.

    Register for this Virtual Gathering at the link below and stand the chance of winning a copy by clicking here.

  • February 12: Virtually Yours with Bisi Adjapon

    February 12: Virtually Yours with Bisi Adjapon

    Bisi Adjapon’s The Keeper of Secrets is this month’s featured book for “Virtually Yours.”

    Virtually Yours is my partnership with Goethe-Institut Namibia, a series of online discussions 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 has featured Abubakar Adam Ibrahim, Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor, Niq Mhlongo, Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi, Tendai Huchu, Natasha Omokhodion-Kalulu Banda, Ondjaki, Ishmael Beah, Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu, Rémy Ngamije, and Nadifa Mohamed.

    The featured guest for February is Bisi Adjapon’s The Keeper of Secrets. Bisi Adjapon’s writing has been featured in journals and newspapers such as McSweeney’s Quarterly, Washington Times, Daily Graphic, and Chicken Bones. She founded and ran the Young Shakespeare company for four years in America, and as an International Affairs Specialist for the US Foreign Agricultural Service, won the Civil Rights Award for Human Relations. She lives in Ghana.

    This month, the session will have translation in three languages of English, French, and Portuguese.

    Register for this Virtual Gathering at the link below and stand the chance of winning a copy by clicking here.

  • Video: Featuring on the Deutsch Welle Arts dialog

    Video: Featuring on the Deutsch Welle Arts dialog

    I was a guest of the Deutsch Welle Arts dialog with the following focus, “Diversified access to literature.” Here is the brief of the discussions we had;

    Writer and publisher Zukiswa Wanner from South Africa and Helga Frese-Resch, Director of International Publishing at Kiepenheuer und Witsch in Cologne, Germany discuss the role that literature continues to play in fostering critical thinking in polarizing times, and how access to literature can be made easier for all people. Both agreed that the publishing industry is entering a new era, where there is a growing need to use new outlets and move away from traditional, book fairs, which Frese-Resch described as an old-fashioned distribution method. Wanner meanwhile stressed in that digital festivals have been enjoying huge success, helping to undo intellectual silos that have become the epitome of the publishing industry.

    Check out the video below

  • Abubakar Adam Ibrahim now on Audible’s “Afrolit Now” series.

    Abubakar Adam Ibrahim now on Audible’s “Afrolit Now” series.

    Abubakar Adam Ibrahim’s A Love Like This is now available at Audible’s “Afrolit Now” series starting on December 30, 2021. Get it by clicking here.

    Afrolit Now is a new series I am curating of short stories from six African writers in conjunction with Audible. Inspired by Afrolit Sans Frontières, the virtual literary festival I founded the Afrolit Now series brings to life short stories from the best in contemporary African fiction. Showcasing a wide range of countries, genres, and subjects—be it joy, heartbreak, love, or laughter—these pieces prove that a truly great story has no frontiers. The first in the series was posted in October, Troy Onyango’s The Water People.

    The latest story in the series is Abubakar Adam Ibrahim’s A Love Like This which has the following summary;

    A sweeping, evocative short story that spans decades, A Love Like This is a captivating tale of love and self-discovery from award-winning Nigerian author Abubakar Adam Ibrahim.

    Yarima Lalo believes he has been murdered twice before. The cause? Love. To make sense of these vivid memories he cannot shake, he travels from Abuja to Kano with his new friend and love interest Aziza to meet an old woman who he might have known in a past life. She is skeptical at first – and hesitant to revisit painful memories of her own – but together, they dig deeper and deeper into the past, piecing together a shared history with ripple effects that could shape Lalo’s future.

    You can stream the story by clicking here. The more downloads we have of it, the more I am likely to be able to do a second season and bring in more short stories from different African writers so please download and convince at least two other people to do the same.

    Abubakar Adam Ibrahim, A Love Like This, Audible, Afrolit Now,

  • Beata Umubyeyi Mairesse now on Audible’s “Afrolit Now” series.

    Beata Umubyeyi Mairesse now on Audible’s “Afrolit Now” series.

    Beata Umubyeyi Mairesse’s Consolata is the latest offering at Audible’s “Afrolit Now” starting on December 30, 2021. Get it by clicking here.

    Afrolit Now is a new series I am curating of short stories from six African writers in conjunction with Audible. Inspired by Afrolit Sans Frontières, the virtual literary festival I founded the Afrolit Now series brings to life short stories from the best in contemporary African fiction. Showcasing a wide range of countries, genres, and subjects—be it joy, heartbreak, love, or laughter—these pieces prove that a truly great story has no frontiers. The first in the series was posted in October, Troy Onyango’s The Water Peoplefollowed in November by Abubakar Adam Ibrahim’s A Love Like This.

    The story for December is Consolata by Beata Umubyeyi Mairesse. Here is the summary of the story;

    A moving story of an old woman reckoning with memories – both cherished and heartbreaking – of her past, from French Rwandan author Beata Umubyeyi Mairesse, winner of the 2020 Prix des Cinq Continents de la Francophonie.

    In childhood, Consolata was permanently separated from her family by French colonizers in her Rwandan village. Now, nearing the end of her life in an assisted-living facility, she starts losing her French language skills and can only remember her mother tongue, to the confusion of care workers. Oscillating between moments in assisted living and vivid childhood memories with family in Rwanda, Consolota is a poignant story of heritage, memory, and bonds that can never be broken.

    You can stream the story by clicking here. The more downloads we have of it, the more I am likely to be able to do a second season and bring in more short stories from different African writers so please download and convince at least two other people to do the same.

    Beata Umubyeyi Mairesse, Audible, Afrolit Now,