Blog

  • Palestine Festival of Literature 2023

    Palestine Festival of Literature 2023

    The Palestine Festival of Literature (PalFest) is an annual festival that takes place in cities across historic Palestine. It’s an initiative committed to the creation of language and ideas for combating colonialism in the 21st century.

    I attended the Palestine Festival of Literature 2023 in Palestine from May 20 – 25, 2023. You can read about my experience by clicking here.

  • AS Madames launches in Luanda

    AS Madames launches in Luanda

    As Madames, the Portuguese language version of The Madams launched in Luanda, Angola on Friday, May 12, 2023.

    My first novel The Madams abouta Black South African decided to take a white maid, published by Oshun Books in 2006, was a revelation in the South African writing scene. The first translation for this book in Portuguese by Sandra Tamale and is a collaboration between Kiela (Angola) and Ethale Books (Mozambique).

    The first launch for this book was in Luanda on May 12. Here are some images from the launch.

    AS Madames launch in Luanda
  • AS Madames to launch in Luanda, Angola

    AS Madames to launch in Luanda, Angola

    As Madames, the Portuguese language version of The Madams is set to launch in Luanda, Angola on Friday, May 12, 2023.

    My first novel The Madams abouta Black South African decided to take a white maid, published by Oshun Books in 2006, was a revelation in the South African writing scene. The first translation for this book in Portuguese by Sandra Tamale and is a collaboration between Kiela (Angola) and Ethale Books (Mozambique).

    The first launch for this book will be in Luanda on May 12.

  • February 21: OlongoAfrica Multilingual Anthology

    February 21: OlongoAfrica Multilingual Anthology

    I was delighted to translate Sarah Ladipo Manyika’s Moraya from English to Shona for OlongoAfrica Multilingual Anthology which will be published on February 21, 2023.

    On February 21, to mark the International Mother Tongue Day — an annual event marked globally by UNESCO — OlongoAfrica will present ten African short stories in ten different African languages on OlongoAfrica. The motivation cuts across passions in literature, lexicography, audiobook, translation, and good old cultural conversation across the continent.

    The project is supported by Brick House, Sterling Bank Nigeria, and some individual donors, whose funding allowed us to pay writers, translators, illustrators, and voiceover talents. The stories were illustrated by Moussa Kone, and edited by Kọ́lá Túbọsún and Salawu Olajide.

    More information can be found by clicking here.

  • Artistic Encounters and Strauhof Zurich

    Artistic Encounters and Strauhof Zurich

    Strauhof and the Litar Foundation are dedicating the exhibition trilogy “litafrika” (2022–2024) to literatures from the African continent. The first exhibition “Poetries of a Continent”, based on the anthology “Afrika im Gedicht” (Zurich 2015) by the Swiss literary mediator Al Imfeld, stages a selection of exemplary poems in English, French, Portuguese and Arabic from postcolonial classics to the current slam and spoken word scene.

    The second exhibition came about after I visited “Poetries of a Continent” and wrote “Artistic Encounters” which features eight scenes from contemporary African literatures. In it I stage encounters between current novels and performance, music or visual art. Across national and linguistic borders, the exhibition sheds light on a generation of writers who are well connected and internationally active. As a continuation of “Poetries of a Continent” (2022), I put the emphasis on novels instead of poems, focal points instead of abundance – and above all on the diverse stories of younger authors instead of the postcolonial classics: what topics do contemporary literary figures deal with today? How do artists stage the selected passages?

    The selected artists and texts are;

    • Ishmael Beah (Sierra Leone): Radiance of Tomorrow (2014) x         
      Shaffik Manzi (Rwanda): visual artist
    • Virgília Ferrão (b. 1986, Mozambique): Os Nossos Feitiços (2022) x         
      Jussara Camble (São Tomé and Príncipe): actress
    • Abubakar Adam Ibrahim (Nigeria): Season of Crimson Blossoms (2015) x         
      Zikhona Sodlaka (South Africa): actress
    • Angela Makholwa (South Africa): Critical But Stable (2021) x         
      Michael Soi (Kenya): visual artist
    • Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi (Uganda): The First Woman (2020) x         
      Ntombephi Ntobela (South Africa): visual artist
    • Yara Nakahanda Monteiro (Angola): Essa Dama Bate Bue (2018) x         
      Zubz the Last Letter (Zambia): musician
    • Fiston Mwanza Mujila (DR Congo): Tram 83 (2014) x         
      Prudence Katomeni (Zimbabwe): musician
    • Ondjaki (Angola): Os Transparentes (2012) x         
      Seeretse (Botswana): musician

    The exhibition can be viewed in Zurich from June 16 until September 03, 2023. Please click here for more information.

  • October 8: Virtually Yours with Femi Kayode

    October 8: Virtually Yours with Femi Kayode

    Light Seekers by Femi Kayode is the featured book for the series “Virtually Yours,” which runs on Saturday, October 8, 2022. He 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. Click here to register for the session.

    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.

    Femi Kayode grew up in Lagos, Nigeria. He studied Psychology at the University of Ibadan and has worked in advertising over the last two decades. He was a Packard Fellow in Film and Media at the University of Southern California and a Gates-Packard Fellow in International Health at the University of Washington, Seattle. His writing credits include several award winning work for the stage and screen. He holds an MA in Creative Writing – Crime Fiction at the University of East Anglia, where Lightseekers won the Little, Brown/UEA Crime Fiction Award. He is currently pursuing a PhD in Crime Fiction at Bath Spa University where he is exploring the use of Systems Thinking for plotting the contemporary crime novel. He lives in Namibia with his family.

    In his crime novel Lightseekers, Nigerian author Femi Kayode reconstructs a lynching of three students in Port Harcourt – and tells of a deeply torn country between civil war, corruption and organised violence. Selected as a Best Crime Novel of the Month by The Times, Sunday Times, Independent, Guardian, Observer, Financial Times and Irish Times.

    Join the discussion at the following times;

    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

    To register for this event please click here.

    Virtually Yours, Goethe-Institut,

  • September 9: Virtually Yours with Gauz

    September 9: Virtually Yours with Gauz

    Cocoaïans by Gauz is the featured book for the series “Virtually Yours,” which runs on Saturday, September 9, 2022. He will be moderated by Renee Edwige Dro. The event hosted by Goethe-Institut Namibia will run from 4pm GMT, 5pm WAT, 6pm CAT, and 7pm EAT. Click here to register for the session.

    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.

    This month’s guest is Gauz who will be speaking about his newest nonfiction title Cocoaïans which was published by L’ Arche Editions on August 19. The new book has the following blurb;

    An extensive historical fresco through the 20th century, Cocoaïans tells the story of chocolate and the world’s dependence on cocoa powder. From the bean to the processed product, the cultivation and trade of cocoa reflect the relations of domination imposed by the West on the producing countries of Africa. Between the fields of cocoa trees and the chocolate bars of industrial groups, traditions, globalization and neocolonialism intersect.

    From Côte d’Ivoire, from the Gbaka forest to Treichville, from 1908 to 2031, Gauz’ recounts the project of the Cocoaïans, the inhabitants of Cocoaland to emancipate themselves from the processes of capitalist exploitation. Cocoaïans unfolds in several voices and takes us in the footsteps of those who had to transform their country under the pressure of the settlers, betrayals and compromises, and the decisive influence of socialism within these power struggles.

    Gauz’ launches the idea of ​​an Africa that would reclaim the product of its labor and its means of production, to free itself from the alienation induced by post-colonial capitalism.

    Join the discussion at the following times;

    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

    To register for this event please click here.

  • August 13: Virtually Yours with José Luís Mendonça

    August 13: Virtually Yours with José Luís Mendonça

    José Luís Mendonça’s Metamorfoses do Elefante is the featured book for the series “Virtually Yours,” which runs on August 13, 2022. He 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.

    This month’s guest is José Luís Mendonça who share his public life among literature, university teaching, journalism and cultural activism for the promotion of books and reading. His book as Metamorfoses do Elefante is a literary gem: legends, dreams, nightmares, metaphors and a creative use of language that evoke the art of Mia Couto.

    To register for this event please click here.

  • Hemley Boum for Audible’s Afrolit Now

    Hemley Boum for Audible’s Afrolit Now

    Afrolit Now is returning to Audible with Hemley Boum ‘s Little Pa translated by Edwige Dro coming out on August 11.

    Afrolit Now is a 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. Previously featured are Troy Onyango’s We Are The Water People, A Love Like This by Abubakar Adam Ibrahim and Beata Umubyeyi Mareisse’s Consolata.

    Coming in August is Hemley Boum ‘s Little Pa translated by Edwige Dro. Check it when it comes out.

  • Nominated for The Book Behind Awards

    Nominated for The Book Behind Awards

    I have been nominated for South Africa’s The Book Behind Awards for Best Female author. Please vote for “BEFA3” to 34877 for me to win.