Kalaf Epalanga’s Whites Can Dance Too is the featured book for the series “Virtually Yours,” which runs on October 5, 2023. 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 Angolan musician and writer Kalaf Epalanga best known internationally for fronting the Lisbon-based dance collective Buraka Som Sistema. He is a celebrated columnist in Angola and Portugal. Whites Can Dance Too is his acclaimed debut novel; it was first published in Portugal by Editorial Caminho (2017). It is an exhilarating debut novel told through three different voices, Whites Can Dance Too is Kalaf Epalanga’s reflection on and celebration of the music of his homeland, the intertwining of cultural roots, and freedom and love. The English translation was done by Daniel Hahn and it was published by Faber & Faber (get a copy here).
To register for this event please click here.