We met them in We Need New Names: Bastard and Chipo and Godknows and Sbho and Stina and Darling (except this time we can’t quite tell if Darling is still part of the group, if she is the one telling the story. This is left to the reader to decide). Now Noviolet Bulawayo brings them back…
“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…
We present a conversation between NoViolet Bulawayo and Chinelo Okparanta, two of the most talented writers of our time. The focus of the interview is on Okparanta’s debut short story collection, Happiness, Like Water, but the writers cover other topics as well: food, the creative process, literary awards, multiple identities, and future writing projects. Bulawayo’s questions are thoughtful and engaging, and…
By Brian Bwesigye It is now a trend, that any story out of Africa that deals with deprivation, misrule and suffering is met with loud outcries of poverty-porn from a group of Africans Taiye Selasi defined as Afropolitans. Writing in Lip Magazine in 2005, Taiye described Afropolitans as “the newest generation of African emigrants … (known by a)…
‘We Need New Names’ Launch a Success Report by Philani Amadeus Nyoni BULAWAYO, ZIMBABWE: A crowd of over three hundred people thronged the National Art Gallery in Bulawayo on Tuesday evening to welcome NoViolet Bulawayo and her history- making novel to both the book’s and author’s hometown. The novel has sent shockwaves across the global landscape and received a resounding welcome…
Memory Chirere is an award-winning Zimbabwean writer who teaches Creative Writing and Literature at the University of Zimbabwe. NoViolet Bulawayo’s debut novel, We Need New Names confirms the existence of a certain special tradition in the literature of Zimbabwe which cries for adequate recognition and evaluation. Ever since Dambudzo Marechera of The House of Hunger’s “I got my things…
