Kinna Reads

Recipients of the 2018 Windham-Campbell Prizes were announced today and Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi (aka the writer of Kintu) is among the eight winners.  It can hard for me to express coherently, without devolving into a hot mess, just how seismic Kintu‘s arrival into my reading life has been. It’s the book I talk about the most, the one that I’m always recommending to others to read. I’m so…

“II ii – I have to think about what it means to be here…” by Dionne Brand

Because yesterday, 04/25/17, Dionne Brand and Claudia Rankine were in conversation at The Barnard Center for Research on Women (@bcrwtweets), and I know that I missed out on something great. https://twitter.com/bcrwtweets/status/857011160088027136 https://twitter.com/bcrwtweets/status/857010069615112194 https://twitter.com/bcrwtweets/status/857005495076491265…

For #InternationalWomensDay: “On Reading Jackie Kay” by Ama Ata Aidoo

Women, Happy International Women’s Day!  The struggle for Freedom and Justice still continues. (My favorite symbol of Ghana remains our flag, created by the genius bae Theodosia Okoh. My second favorite symbol is the Coat of Arms, mostly because it has the words FREEDOM AND JUSTICE emblazoned on it. But that’s a story for another day). For all sorts of reasons including the recent deaths of Buchi…

It’s 1pm and I’m planning my trip to Abeokuta – I leave on Wednesday.  Yessss, the 2016 edition of Ake Arts and Book Festival is loading…. I’m so excited, I have butterflies, the pit of my stomach is always warm because That is me up there, scheduled to host a book chat with NoViolet Bulawayo and Jennifer Makumbi!  Ms. Makumbi is the author of Kintu, which qualifies as the most recent addition to…

African Writers and Storytellers Resident in Ghana: Apply for the Nana Kofi Addo and the Abena Korantemaa Prizes

My sister-friend Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah announced the Nana Kofi Addo Writivism Prize for non-fiction; and the Abena Korantemaa Writivism Prize for oral history on March 8th at the ‘Don’t Call Me Beautiful’ Panel discussion.  The deadline for submission for both prizes is May 20, 2016.  The prize money for each is $500. The Prizes are open to African writers who are resident in Ghana. So yes,…

Fiston Mwanza Mujilla and Tram 83 win 2015 Etisalat Prize for Literature

https://twitter.com/etisalatreads/status/711281036211134465?ref_src=twsrc^tfw Congratulations to Fiston Mwanza Mujilla. He was awarded the 2015 Etisalat Prize for Literature for his debut novel Tram 83, at a star-studded event in Lagos last night. The Etisalat Prize has won a reprieve. After its dismal failure to even shortlist Kintu last year, anything short of a win for Tram 83 and I would have…

Short Story Day Africa announces 2016 theme and dates for submission

Short Story Day Africa has announced a call for submissions for the 2016 Short Story Day Africa Prize. This year’s theme is Migrations. The submission period opens on  June 1, 2016 and ends on July 31st, 2016.  Find out more here: Short Story Day Africa Twenty-one out of 400 submissions to last year’s Water-theme prize has been collected into an anthology titled Water. Good luck to those who…

2016 Writivism Short Story Prize opens for submssions

The Centre for African Cultural Excellence (CACE) has announced guidelines and submission dates for the 2016 edition of its short story prize. You must be an unpublished writer and resident in an African country to enter. The submission period is January 30 to March 31, 2016. “All entries must be in French or English”. The 2016 Judges are Tsitsi Dangarembga (Chair), Richard Ali Mutu, Sumayya Lee,…

I’ve been sorting out my TBR (to-be-read) stack of books. Ever the latecomer, I’ve discovered that GoodReads is indeed a thing and that I like adding books to my To-Read shelf. I’ve culled from the TBR pile books I’ll never read but there’s still a sizable number left that I’d like to read. Some points about my TBR: Most of the unread books that have been on my shelves the longest are written by…

#LoveInLiteraryAfrica: A Reading List

The New York Times published  “A Valentine’s Day Reading List” which included a quiz, but omits any character or book from the African literary tradition. These lists usually include a token mention of Achebe or Adichie, for which we are meant to be eternally grateful. I suppose the drafters of the NYT quiz  couldn’t recall any romance in books by these two writers. (How can they? Since even…

A Short Note Upon A First Reading of Kintu

Back in 2013: https://twitter.com/Keguro_/status/393780563292598272 Wizard is still Wizard. But I’ve learnt Keguro’s lesson so I will not repeat it here. Instead I’m thinking of the word relevant. adjective, meaning:  closely connected or appropriate to the matter in hand. Synonyms: pertinent, applicable, apposite, material, apropos, germane, apt, fitting, suitable, proper. (I majored in…

Jerome Reviews Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

(This is Jerome Kuseh’s seventh review for Kinna Reads; his previous reviews can be found here. Jerome Kuseh blogs about business and finance at ceditalk.com; about politics at jeromekuseh.com;  and about ethnicity and identity at ukweliwa.org). _____________ Ta-Nehisi Coates won the National Book Awards prize for non-fiction in November 2015 for his second book, Between the World and Me. This…

Currently: Harmattan in a New Year, Bookish Goals and Reading Challenges

Afenhyiapa! Happy New Year y’all. It’s 9:30am in Accra. The lights have been on everyday since the December 2015 holidays and I’ve given up anticipating/calculating the return of Dumsor the Dread. The Harmattan season is upon us here in West Africa. (For those unfamiliar with Harmattan, it’s a December-to-March season of coldish, dry and dusty winds that sweep down West Africa from the Sahara…

2016 Africa Reading Challenge

Welcome to the Africa Reading Challenge. This will be the fourth time that I’m hosting the Africa Reading Challenge.  Details and requirements are the same this year as for the 2012 Africa Reading Challenge, which started with: “I have absolutely no reason for hosting nor urging you to participate in this challenge save for the joy of discovering and reading African literature!” Here are the…

Tram 83

The Fisherman

Shadow Self

The Reactive

The good news is that I got one right and Fiston Mwanza Mujila’s Tram 83 does make the shortlist.  The not-so-good news (for me) is that the other two books on the short list are :

Penny Busetto (South Africa), The Story of Anna P, as Told by Herself

Rehana Rossouw (South Africa), What Will People Say?

I will endeavor to secure the two books because I want to do a one-person shadow jury before the winner of the prize is announced in March.

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On the shortlist:

I don’t have much to say except that I’m glad Tram 83 is on the list. I have heard so much about this book. I’m yet to read it though. My enthusiasm is purely demographic. Tram 83 is  by a Francophone African writer. It’s broken through to the Anglophone African literary world due in part to some strong backing – Alain Mabanckou wrote the book’s introduction.  Mujila’s Tram 83 is the first translated fiction on an Etisalat Prize list. Hope has sprung.

The other surprise – might be glaring for some – is the absence of  Chigozie Obioma’s The Fisherman on the shortlist.  The Fisherman is featured on most of the Western world’s Best of 2015 lists. There’s always that ONE African book on these lists and The Fisherman is this year’s token darling. Occasionally, you see it paired with Chinelo Okparanta’s Under the Udala Trees. Anywho.

Congratulations and good luck to the shortlisted writers.

Do come back for the Shadow Etisalat Jury.

Please, let’s stand with @BinyavangaW

Binyavanga Wainaina has suffered a series of strokes with complications. His family and doctors have determined that further medical care is urgently needed and that the best place for such care is in Bangalore, India. Binj’s family and friends have launched an appeal for funds to cover the expected medical costs. As Frankie Edozien said in an email, “Some of you know of his boundless kindness,…

What’s up with the outdated language in description of Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing?

My sister-blog, bookshy (whom I met in Aké and it was fab!) gave us an early look at the New Releases for 2016 in which she mentions Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi. Coincidentally, I’d seen a tweet with a link to a short story, ‘Inscape’, by Gyasi in Guernica. Anywho, folks been tweeting about Yaa Gyasi in my African Literature corner of Twitter. So, here is the description of the book at Penguin Random…