Book News

New Poetry from Peter Muzira (Zimbabwe/Canada)

As we prepare for the expansion of the Shona section, we present five poems by  Peter Muzira. These poems are excerpted from his upcoming collection, Maungira Mudenhere. Muzira is a craftsman whose works preserves and energizes the Shona language. The poetry taps into the wisdom and culture of the Karanga people in the Chivi area,…

Arabella Grayson Reviews “146: A Collection of Love Stories”

One million children are exploited by the global commercial sex trade, every year. The Facts About Child Sex Tourism: 2005 (U.S. State Department)   146: A Collection of Love Stories is dedicated to the little girl who wore number 146 pinned to her red dress. What little is known about her story is told at the…

New Poems by David Iribarne, USA

David Iribarne earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from CSUS.  He currently resides  in Sacramento.  He has had poems published in  Poetry Now, Tule Review, Sussurus, Catchword, Medusa’s Kitchen, Primal Urge, WTF?!, Monterey Poetry Review, Convergence, Coalesce Magazine  and  has  had work in a The Creating Freedom exhibit on Domestic Violence at California Museum.   He also…

Zimbabwean Writers’ Trouble in Paradise, by Beaven Tapureta

Zimbabwean artists, particularly writers, have been skeptical of wills and this has led to the mismanagement or utter neglect of their artistic estates when they pass on. While families of deceased artists may largely carry the blame for not raising a brow, artists need also to take responsibility of their creative works as these constitute…

Stories on Stage Sacramento

Natalie Baszile holds an M.A. in Afro-American Studies from UCLA and is a graduate of Warren Wilson College’s MFA Program for Writers, where she was a Holden Minority Scholar. An early version of Queen Sugar won the Hurston Wright College Writer’s Award and was a co-runner-up in the Faulkner Pirate’s Alley Novel-in-Progress competition. Excerpts were…

Fungai Machirori Interviews Novuyo Rosa Tshuma

The 2014 Caine Prize for African Writing Workshop is currently taking place in Zimbabwe. Ahead of the event, Fungai Machirori conducted a few interviews with Zimbabwean writers and publishers, as well as Caine Prize Director, Lizzy Attree. Fungai’s article of what was discussed can be found here. “Realising how much great content would go to waste from what was left…

Our Life Stories in Sacramento, California

SACRAMENTO, CA: Cosumnes River College (CRC) and the Hart Senior Center are holding their seventh annual conference, “Our Life Stories”, on April 12 at the Hart Center. With classes on the craft of writing, this cross-generational conference features some of California’s top authors, writers and poets. The workshops and presentations will address how to write…

Nkiacha Atemnkeng’s Personal Response to “We Need New Names”

“My review [of We Need New Names] is a very funny one,” says Nkiacha Atemnkeng, “but I think the funniest novel in African literature ever also deserves a funny book review.” This is more than a review. Atemnkeng presents a personal response, in honour of his his role model, NoViolet Bulawayo, the author of one…

Nkiacha Atemnkeng Reviews Chinelo Okparanta’s “Benji”

Nkiacha Atemnkeng is a Cameroonian writer and blogger at nkiachaatemnkeng.blogspot.com. His work has been published in three online literary journals, malawiwrite.org, www.africabookclub.com and www.thenewblackmagazine.com. He was shortlisted for the 2013 Mardibooks short story competition in London. A holder of a Curriculum Studies and Biology degree, he works as a Swissport Customer Service agent at the…

Poems from Nancy Aidé González, USA

Nancy Aidé González is a Chicana poet, educator, andactivist. She graduated from California State University, Sacramento with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature. She attended Las Dos Brujas Writer’s Workshop in 2012. Her work has appeared in Huizache The magazine of Latino literature, Mujeres De Maiz Zine, DoveTales, Tule Review, Seeds of Resistance Flor y Canto: Tortilla Warrior, La Bloga,…