September 18, 2017— Graywolf Press has announced the Graywolf Press Africa Prize, to be awarded for a first novel manuscript by an African author primarily residing in Africa. The prize will be judged by A. Igoni Barrett, author of the acclaimed novel Blackass, in conjunction with the Graywolf Editors. The submission period will run from October 1—October…
Limbe is a coastal resort city by the black, sandy beaches of the Atlantic in the Anglophone South West Region of Cameroon. It is also where Africa’s first million dollar novelist, Imbolo Mbue was born and raised. Her debut novel, “Behold the dreamers” is partly set there. Most of the flashback in her novel also goes there. Imbolo’s very moving reminiscences of places like Half Mile, Down Beach and Isokolo, resonated with me a lot because they are all places that I lived in or visited in Limbe while growing up. Yet, no matter how neatly she paints the portrait of that clean city in her novel, it is ironically a place that she left. It is also a city which her novel’s two main characters, Jende and Neni Jonga also leave behind.
A Casualty of Power (Weaver Press, 2016) reads something like a thriller, and it is as difficult to put down, while simultaneously exploring some of the fundamental issues bedevilling post-colonial Africa. The experiences that Hamoonga Moya, the Zambian protagonist, endures will resonate with many in the sub-region. Corruption in high places and the recolonization of…
Laure Gnagbé Blédou whose short story, “I Haven’t Returned”, was shortlisted in August 2016 for Writivism short story competition, is passionate, a woman, lover, mother, daughter, sister, cousin, friend, Africa-ddict, thirty-something, impatient, Ivorian, French, human, reader, speaker, writer, demanding, citizen, vegetarian, traveller, road-trip fan, learner, book-lover, bridge-lover, chocolate-lover, music enthusiast, sharer, feminist, old-school, new-school, journalist.…
Sarah Ladipo Manyika was raised in Nigeria and has lived in Kenya, France, and England. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, and teaches literature at San Francisco State University. Her first novel, In Dependence, was published by Legend Press in London, Cassava Republic Press in Abuja and Weaver Press in Harare.…
Aito Osemegbe Joseph works as a Sales Professional during the day and at dusk, writes horror stories and psychological thrillers. His short stories have appeared in ‘Brittle Paper’ and ‘Kalahari review’. He is set to publish a collection of short stories and is currently working on his debut novel. Read his Writivism-shortlisted story here.
Gloria Mwaniga Minage is a high school teacher in Baringo where she also runs a children’s reading club. She is also a freelance writer of literary pieces for The Saturday Nation and The East African newspapers as well as coordinator of Amka, a literary workshop that meets monthly at the Goethe Institut in Nairobi to…
Acan Innocent Immaculate is a 20-year old Ugandan pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Medicine and Surgery. Writing has always been her first love and she looks forward to a literary atmosphere where African stories will break the mould even more than they do now. Read her shortlisted story here.
Writivism shortlisted writer Abu Amirah finds pleasure in the written word because of the ability to lose himself in an infectious world filled with characters begging to come to life, metaphors, muse and madness; and amid all this, the power to give the reader permission to laugh, cry, love and hate! Read is shortlisted story…
Emmanuel Mhike Hove akaberekwa kwaMazvihwa, Zimbabwe, mugore ra1987. Mwana weimba yovushe hwekwaMazvihwa uyo anombodzwa nerekuti “Prince of Mazvihwa” . Akadzidza paGudo Primary School nepaGwavachemai Secondary, achibva azopedzisira paZvishavane High, asati aenda kuMidlands State University, uko abuda neHonours degree reMusic and Musicology. Akashanda paMusic Arts and Culture Festival iyo yaachiri kubatsira nanhasi. Mhike ndoumwe veavo vakauya…
