The History of Man – Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu (Penguin Random House South Africa, 2020) | A Review by Gitte Postel
Africa Book Link | New African literature, drama & criticism
by Gilbert2017
4M ago
The Catalyst Press book cover states that Ndlovu’s novel The History of Man is ‘set in a southern African country that is never named’. This is true, neither Rhodesia nor Zimbabwe is ever mentioned. But every other place in this novel can easily be located in what is now Zimbabwe: the Matopos hills in the south, where protagonist Emil Coetzee spends his happy childhood, and, some fifty kilometres further north, the city that he initially hates: Bulawayo, here consistently denoted by its nickname The City of Kings. The ceasefire date mentioned on the first page, 21-12-1979, the date which marks ..read more
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The Five Sorrowful Mysteries of Andy Africa (Bloomsbury, 2022), Stephen Buoro | A Review by Christopher Hebert
Africa Book Link | New African literature, drama & criticism
by Gilbert2017
4M ago
Stephen Buoro’s first novel, The Five Sorrowful Mysteries of Andy Africa, chronicles Andy Aziza’s coming-of-age in contemporary Nigeria. Blending poetry and prose, Buoro endows his titular character with a vivid voice and personality while also tackling issues of religion, race, and migration. Furthermore, Buoro’s novel is infused with a wide range of influences and references, to include mathematics, theoretical constructs like “anifuturism,” and Western culture in the form of books and films. This makes for a highly intertextual narrative, and one that particularly reinforces the lasting imp ..read more
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Afterlives (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2020). Abdulrazak Gurnah | A Review by Annachiara Raia
Africa Book Link | New African literature, drama & criticism
by Gilbert2017
1y ago
Long-listed for both the 2021 Orwell Prize for Political Fiction and the Walter Scott Prize, Afterlives is the tenth novel by Zanzibar-born Abdulrazak Gurnah, who was awarded the 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature. This award has been regarded as “a family win” for East African writers or, more broadly, for Gurnah’s many devoted readers worldwide. As Kenyan writer Yvonne Owuor puts it in an interview with Meg Arenberg, “Gurnah is like the favorite uncle who is rather shy; thus there is extra pride that he is finally being discovered.”[1] Arenberg has also aptly pointed out, however, that the right ..read more
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Charis Olszok, 2020: The Libyan Novel. Humans, Animals and the Poetics of Vulnerability | A Review by Caroline Janssen
Africa Book Link | New African literature, drama & criticism
by Gilbert2017
2y ago
For many people, the Libyan novel – and the country it represents – is largely a terra incognita, a place where ancient cartographers masking their ignorance would have written ‘hic sunt leones’ (‘here … there are lions’). This is regrettable; Charis Olszok’s study is a most welcome and relevant addition in the field of literary studies. A basic understanding of Libyan history, in modern times, is essential to grasp the essence of its novels. The country itself is a modern construct. After the collapse of the Ottoman empire, Italians established two colonies in North Africa that were subs ..read more
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Young Blood (Catalyst Press, 2021) Sifiso Mzobe | A Review by Beverley Jane Cornelius
Africa Book Link | New African literature, drama & criticism
by Gilbert2017
3y ago
“I remember the year I turned seventeen as the year of stubborn seasons.” (7) So begins Sifiso Mzobe’s novel, Young Blood, which follows the turbulent coming-of-age of a young man, Sipho, over the course of one pivotal year in his life – the year that he is 17. Describing the seasons as ‘stubborn’ because they did not quite follow the usual pattern, he attempts to explain how that year was different from all others. “Summer lasted well into autumn, and autumn annexed half of winter. It was hot in May and cold in November” (7). Weather is the least of his concerns, though; he is confronted, mor ..read more
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The Perfect Nine: The Epic of Gĩkũyũ and Mũmbi (The New Press, 2020) / Kenda Mũiyũru: Rũgano rwa Gĩkũyũ na Mũmbi (East African Educational Publishers, 2018) | A Review by Annachiara Raia
Africa Book Link | New African literature, drama & criticism
by Gilbert2017
3y ago
So this is not history, it is a revelation; A revelation of love A revelation of hope A revelation of perseverance A revelation of bravery A revelation of knowledge Kwa ũguo rũũrũ ti hithitũrĩ ni kĩguũrĩrio Kĩguũrĩrio kĩa wendo Kĩguũrĩrio kĩa mĩwhoko Kĩguũrĩrio kĩa ũmĩrĩru Kĩguũrĩrio kĩa ũkamba Kĩguũrĩrio kĩa ũmenio After decades of producing fiction, plays, memoirs, and essays, earning thirteen honorary doctorates and a UCI Medal, distinguished professor of English and comparative literature and literary and social activist Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o returns to the printed page to bring us the ..read more
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Evan Maina Mwangi, The postcolonial animal. African literature and posthuman ethics | A Review by Inge Brinkman
Africa Book Link | New African literature, drama & criticism
by Gilbert2017
3y ago
In his new book, The Postcolonial Animal, Evan Mwangi studies the role of animals in contemporary postcolonial African literature. His aim is not to explore the way in which animals are used to represent human society, but rather more to show ‘how the animal shapes texts’ (vii), leading to a reframing of the human category. Mwangi does so from an interdisciplinary and a radical intersectional approach. In other words, he does not isolate animal studies, precisely because doing so would appear ‘to play down the problems African human populations have suffered under slavery, colonialis ..read more
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Un entretien avec Celestina Jorge Vindes de Pépite Blues | Amber Frateur & Adja Sy
Africa Book Link | New African literature, drama & criticism
by Gilbert2017
3y ago
C’est le mardi 8 Septembre 2020, un après-midi nuageux dans le quartier Matongé de Bruxelles que nous avons le plaisir de parler avec Celestina Jorge Vindes, propriétaire de Pépite Blues. Pépite Blues, qui se trouve à la rue Anoul 30, est une librairie et un espace culturel où les afro-littératures sont mises à l’honneur. Celestina Jorge Vindes nous accueille et nous répond généreusement et profondément quand on l’interroge sur cette librairie et espace culturel qui incarne beaucoup d’intentions.   Pourquoi cette librairie ..read more
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Khama’s rebellion against history | A Review by Gitte Postel
Africa Book Link | New African literature, drama & criticism
by Gilbert2017
3y ago
In the driest region east of the Okavango, the Amakanko live a quiet life with their cattle, their gods and their ancestors. That is until Khama’s father, the bravest hunter between the Zambesi and the Cape, is killed by an elephant. According to custom, Khama’s uncle marries his widowed mother and takes over the household. For some reason however Khama hates his uncle, and decides to rebel against him – him and everything else. So far, this could have been just another coming of age novel. Khama’s rebellion, however, is not the revolt of an ordinary adolescent, it is the start of a new empire ..read more
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Outside the Lines | A Review by Aneesha Puri
Africa Book Link | New African literature, drama & criticism
by Gilbert2017
3y ago
Ameera Patel’s Outside the Lines, situated in contemporary Johannesburg, South Africa is a raw depiction of the intermeshed nature of political and personal realities and the human connections, dreams, aspirations of choice and self-alienation that exist in their gaps and fissures. The author dexterously manages a seamless storytelling experience despite the ever-shifting narrative voices that flit between the consciousness of five characters from three different races, each having their own religious affiliations and emotional baggages that constitute their psychological interi ..read more
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