Bookshy
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I fell in love with African literature, and I've been hooked ever since.
Bookshy is my personal labour of love dedicated to African literature. It is a space where I celebrate, promote and recognise contemporary African literature - although sometimes I go back in time to commemorate the greats. It is about the books I love, the books I have read and the books that I am dying to read.
Bookshy | An Africa book lover
4y ago
I've been learning Italian. Very slowly. I'm still pretty bad. No, I'm not being modest. Actually, I was not being honest when I said I'm still pretty bad, because, I.am.appalling. But I will still keep at it. I'm learning cause I moved ... again. For work. This time to Italy.
This morning as I was scrolling through my social media feed, I noticed the Italian translation of Bernardine Evaristo's Girl, Woman, Other. This reminded me of the Italian translation of Sarah Ladipo Manyika's Like a Mule, which I saw some months back. As it is with my mind, it started going off in many direct ..read more
Bookshy | An Africa book lover
4y ago
It's been quiet here for a minute ... and I haven't completely returned from my self-imposed hibernation (work and life is really making it difficult to find the time), but I had to share a really fun new series for the kids. This exciting new comic book series is from Miia Torera, miiato, and for children aged 4 to 8.
The Incredible Kids Comic Series follows the adventures of three toddler superheroes: Incredible I, Starboi, and the Amazing Amaziah. I read the first two books in the series Chocolate Crisis and Enter the Mummy over the weekend, and I am ho ..read more
Bookshy | An Africa book lover
4y ago
The 2020 AKO Caine Prize shortlisted stories are written in humorous, tragic and satirical tones.
2020 makes twenty years of the Caine Prize for African Writing - now known as the AKO Caine Prize for African Writing - and this just in, the shortlist for the 2020 AKO Caine Prize for African Writing has been announced. It features five stories that “speak eloquently to the human condition” through a diverse array of themes and genres. This year’s shortlist was determined virtually by the judging panel.
Twenty-eight countries were represented in this year’s eligible entries: Angola/Cabind ..read more
Bookshy | An Africa book lover
4y ago
Image via Pinterest
It's a nice sunny Sunday here (don't worry - I am enjoying the weather from my living room), and I'm back with my round-up of reads. This week saw a mix of oldies and newbies on the reading front. Here, we go!
Did you know Wole Soyinka sang? Moshood shares this bit of information over on Africa is a Country.
"For a time in his mid-20s, Soyinka was a cafe singer in Paris. Two decades later, back in Nigeria, he wrote a two-track album named 'Unlimited Liability Company'. Although much of the singing was fone by actor and musician Tunji Oyelana & His B ..read more
Bookshy | An Africa book lover
4y ago
Image via Pinterest (@illustration315)
The last week has been a bit weird for me, but I have to say I've been really looking forward to sharing my reads today. Confession! I have an excitement I haven't really felt in a while when it comes to my blog. No idea how long this feeling will last, so I'm going to go with it for as long as it is here. Over the week I've done quite a bit of reading, watching and listening. Here we go!
I begin with an epic list of Morrocan books in English. I aspire to create a list of this nature.
"The below list gathers 172 titles. That's 106 novels, sho ..read more
Bookshy | An Africa book lover
4y ago
Image via Pinterest
I'm back with a round-up of my reads from the past week and, I must say, this time I read a mix of new and old articles. Here we go!
Beginning with this piece from Paris Review on Senegalese writer, Mariama Ba, as part of their feminise your canon series. Then, moving on to The Republic's First Draft series - a weekly column about reading, books and writing. This week's edition featured Nigerian writer, Suyi Davies Okungbowa. Side note: I love the yellow aesthetics used for First Draft.
Screenshot via The Republic
Hannah Giorgis might be ..read more
Bookshy | An Africa book lover
4y ago
Not Tonight, I'm Reading by Vashti Harrison via Pinterest
A few years ago I started doing a round-up of articles I read online, and shared it here. I stopped after a while, but I wanted to start it back up again - at least for the time being. It will mostly be centred on African literature or African-focused reads, but as I don't even follow my own rules a lot of the times - I might switch things up occasionally and share some non-African content that I've really enjoyed reading. Here we go!
I'll start with the most recent article I read, History begins in her sto ..read more
Bookshy | An Africa book lover
4y ago
I went back and forth on whether to do a decade in review post or not. In the end, I decided to do one focused on books I loved that have been published in the 2010s. I couldn't do a 'best of' list, mostly because I haven't read all books published this decade. So, it would be inaccurate to create a list of that nature. Lists also by their very nature are subjective. This one is not any different. This particular list is also extremely personal - while all of the books on the list are on it for their brilliant writing, some are also on it for the positive feelings I get whenever I think ..read more
Bookshy | An Africa book lover
4y ago
Illustration by Nichole Kobi
It's been eight years ... of extremely erratic blogging and unfinished ideas, but today I celebrate eight years of bookshy. It's our anniversary. Whoop! Whoop!
As I write this, I smile thinking about the joy this blog has brought me, even though in recent years with life, work and everything in between it has been extremely difficult to do this as much as I would like to. Still, it's been an amazing time and I can't believe how five sentences written on the living room floor in my family home in Ikeja back in December 2011 led to this wonderful ri ..read more
Bookshy | An Africa book lover
4y ago
It's that time of year when I happily scour the internet for new releases for the next year - fully aware there are books I am yet to read from the current year. Still, with debuts and favourites returning, 2020 looks pretty exciting. Here are 30+ books for 2020 and 1 for 2021. PS. Click on images for more details and link to sources of the blurbs.
January 2020
Riot Baby by Tochi Onyebuchi
Ella has a Thing. She sees a classmate grow up to become a caring nurse. A neighbour's son murdered in a drive-by shooting. Things that haven't happened yet. Kev, born while Los Angeles bur ..read more