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Storymoja Festival 2014 Daily Blog – Saturday 20th September

Wole Soyinka and the full house

Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka never showed up for the gala event on Friday night and I was starting to feel like these guys were avoiding me. The other day I was at the Blankets & Wine and DJ Cleo the headline act allegedly refused to get on the plane to come even though he had been paid. Then Wole Soyinka is set to give the Wangari Maathai Memorial Lecture to flip the bird at the Al Shabaab guys who had attacked us and killed his pal Prof Kofi Awoonor. Then he fails to come for the gala which he publicly promised to attend.

I had wanted to meet the good Prof Soyinka. No. I didn’t want to take a selfie with him. I had tried to take a photo of his at the Carnivore three years ago when he was in Nairobi for the Kenya International Film Festival. When I had trained my Canon 20D at him he had raised his hand to protect his face which I found to be very weird. When I put down my camera he signaled to me to come to him and he said to me when I came close, “We are already done with that part.” Huh? What was he talking about? I had come late for the event and would be forced to wait until the end of the dinner when speeches were being made before I could take my photo. I have always wondered what he had against my quiet camera on that day.

Then he fails to come for the gala dinner with organizers claiming he had a flight mishap. I made it to the museum on Saturday a bit after 11am and I hear that the good Prof Wole’s flight had flown in at 6am in the morning and he was doing the memorial address. And just like three years ago, there I was arriving late for a Wole Soyinka event. I made my way to the back of the dome and the man who is 80 this year looked quite lively as he read the speech that he had prepared for the audience. If you want to hear what he was telling us whose book I reviewed here recently. The man is brilliant. It was a full house at the dome with folks hanging onto his every word. My man! And we’re gonna do it! Sell one million copies! He even remembers my name and I try not to blush… wait I’m a miro… we don’t do that kind of stuff…

The kissing panel

Then there was the session that I was moderating: How do Africans Kiss? Storymoja have come up with their own romance series, think Mills & Boon or Sweet Valley High or Harlequin Series (wait is that how those Quins rugby boys go their name?). The series is called the Drumbeat series and my session included those who had something to do with East Africa’s Mills and Boon series. They were the editor of the series Faith Karimi has a column with the Daily Nation (Wednesday) who was accompanied by the assistant editor Vaishnaavi Rammohan. Vaishnaavi has two books in the series Stuck together and Best laid Plans. The young lady is brilliant. She just come came back from London School of Economics where she had finished her masters degree – before she was 21. Also in there was Dilman Dila the Ugandan gentleman with the Nepalese sounding name with his book Cranes Crests and Sunsets. He is one of the most well rounded people in the venue with films and books galore.

Then there was Shevajee Kashavjee whose book was Imani’s Dilemma. The lady who is a property developer was also recently long listed for the Golden Baobab award so you know that my panel was off the hook. We had a ball there at the coconut venue. I wish you were there.

As I waited for the evening events I hang out with several folks including a very inebriated Tony Mochama who was at that time complaining at his bag had been nicked off him by some people who were not bad people. He looked a little the worse for wear and I moved along.

We love you Botswana!

The evening was really happening. It was an evening where we saw some more of the Disraeli performer from the UK who finally convinced me that he was that good as people danced to his music. Also performing was the Botswana guys and finally the headliners; Sauti Sol. It was a great performance with people dancing their hearts out.

Another brilliant day ending at the festival and I’m getting full value for my money.

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Writers’ Studio announces new board -

Jeffery Renard Allen is chair.

The Writers’ Studio was established in 2013 by Nigerian writer Samuel Kolawole to provide a platform between aspiring writers and experienced authors. The organisation organized writing workshops in major cities in Nigeria with hundreds of writers participating. The project extend its activities to other African countries with workshops in Cape Town and Johannesburg .

Past facilitators of Writers’ Studio workshops have included literary agent David Godwin, Zukiswa Wanner, NoViolet Bulawayo, Abubakar Adam Ibrahim and Toni Kan, Igoni Barrett, Yewande Omotoso, Tade Ipadeola, Ayodele Morroco Clarke amongst others.

In June 2014, Writers’ Studio presented a five day workshop during the 2014 Writivism Festival in Kampala, Uganda. The project was in collaboration with Center for African Cultural Excellence (CACE), The Prince Claus Fund, The Danish Centre for Culture and Development, Open Society Initiative for Eastern Africa and The African Writers Trust.

The Writers Studio recently announced its new board of distinguished fellows that included Jeffery Renard Allen (Chair) who has five books and Rachel Zadok a writer and publisher and the founder of Short Story Day Africa, an initiative to highlight African short fiction. Also on the six panel board are Niq Mhlongo, Beatrice Lamwaka,Isabella Morris and Bwesigye bwa Mwesigire.

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African writers bid Dr Maya Angelou farewell

Maya Angelou

Dr Maya Angelou famous for many things including her poetry, acting, activism passed away yesterday in the USA. In literature she wrote quite a bit with her biggest contribution being “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” an autobiographical story about of the life of Marguerite Ann Johnson (Angelou’s birth name) up to the age of 16. In this book she was abandoned by her parents and raped by her mother’s boyfriend and he was killed when she told on him. She was also homeless and became a teen mother.

Tributes have been coming through from all over the world for the celebrated author and Africans have not been left behind. She was involved with the continent intimately; she was in the gang of folks that took over the United Nations when Patrice Lumumba was assassinated, lived in Ghana and was even married to South African freedom fighter Vusumzi Make where they lived in Cairo, Egypt before divorcing. That’s a lot of Africa’s connection so its only right that we here what the writers of this land had to say about her. Many were personal experiences while others just gave their favourite quotes from the legend. Here are a sample;

“Oh my! Maya Angelou was the first person I was ever sent to interview. I was 21. She told me that I was the future and it would one day be up to us, also that I had lipstick on my teeth.”
Animatta Forna

“#MayaAngelou, Ghana, the land you loved, that loved you back, mourns your passing, but we also celebrate your transition to the ancestors.”
Nii Ayikwei Parkes

“After 2 days offline, working on my own contribution to literature, I resurface to find we’ve lost one of literature’s finest. Maya Angelou! – author, bar performer, abuse survivor, African & civil rights activist, “working” and goodtime girl, streetcar driver, searing intellectual. She knew the truth: let it RIP before you R.I.P. Happy Homegoing Ol’ Ma! #your prose scared the bejeezus outta me”
Hawa Golakai

“Even after they were divorced with Vusi Maake Maya Angelou remained our molokazana (ngwetse/ngoetse)”
Zakes Mda

“RIP Dr Maya Angelou – thank you for your courage, your transgression, your badassness, your wisdom and your genius. May the ancestors open their hearts and paths to welcome you to their realm.”
Dr Pumla Gqola

“RIP Dr Maya Angelou – thank you for your courage, your transgression, your badassness, your wisdom and your genius. May the ancestors open their hearts and paths to welcome you to their realm.”
Lebo Mashile

“Rest in peace @DrMayaAngelou. You taught us why the caged bird sings.”
Chibundu Onuzo

“I do not trust people who don’t love themselves and yet tell me, ‘I love you.’ There is an African saying which is: Be careful when a naked person offers you a shirt.” Maya Angelou”
Beverley Nambozo Nsengiyunva

“The more you know of your history, the more liberated you are. Maya Angelou.”
Oyunga Pala

“REST IN ETERNAL PEACE MAYA ANGELOU. AN INSPIRATION!
Pretty women wonder where my secret lies. I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size But when I start to tell them, They think I’m telling lies. I say, It’s in the reach of my arms The span of my hips, The stride of my step, The curl of my lips. I’m a woman Phenomenally. Phenomenal woman, That’s me. I walk into a room Just as cool as you please, And to a man, The fellows stand or Fall down on their knees. Then they swarm around me, A hive of honey bees. I say, It’s the fire in my eyes, And the flash of my teeth, The swing in my waist, And the joy in my feet. I’m a woman Phenomenally. Phenomenal woman, That’s me. Men themselves have wondered What they see in me. They try so much But they can’t touch My inner mystery. When I try to show them They say they still can’t see. I say, It’s in the arch of my back, The sun of my smile, The ride of my breasts, The grace of my style. I’m a woman Phenomenally. Phenomenal woman, That’s me. Now you understand Just why my head’s not bowed. I don’t shout or jump about Or have to talk real loud. When you see me passing It ought to make you proud. I say, It’s in the click of my heels, The bend of my hair, the palm of my hand, The need of my care, ‘Cause I’m a woman Phenomenally. Phenomenal woman, That’s me. Maya Angelou. RIP.”
Moraa Gitaa

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10 African literature rich spaces online

The 7/7 from Sooo Many Stories helps you combat the Monday blues.

So you want to keep abreast of whats happening in the African literature space. Want to get news and reviews from the books written by and about African experience? Try these ones listed in alphabetical order;

1. AuthorsinAfrica www.AuthorsinAfrica.com

This blog focuses on bloggers in the African continent without a focus on mainly writers from all over Sub Saharan Africa. The site gives reviews of books as well as interviews with authors, a section dedicated to poets and essayists, as well as book synopsis and short stories. The site is regularly updated.

2. Bookshy: An Africa book lover; http://bookshybooks.blogspot.com/

This blog is managed by a London based book lover. The book contains news from the African literature scene as well as reviewed by the blogger. With over seventy reviews of some of the best books from the continent this is an important space to keep up with our scene. I especially like the “meet” section where the blogger interviews some really cool writers. The blog is updated every week or so.

3. Books Live www.bookslive.co.za
This is probably the most well managed blog out there for Afro lit. With reviews coming regularly as well as the keeping track of what your favourite authors are up to or what is being written about them this might be THE site to keep visiting. Based in South Africa, the blog is rich in content from the writers from Africa’s most southern most country but it also keeps you abreast of many from other parts. There is new content on this site daily. #Win

4. Brittle paper www.brittlepaper.com
Curated by Ainehi Edoro a doctoral student of English at Duke University Brittle Paper is perhaps the most fun of the blogs. It gives news and reviews from the African literature scene as well as interviews with some of the coolest writers. The blog which is updated regularly has some of the most fun features on there with a look on how characters from some of our most loved books would operate out of their strongholds. For instance this —> African Fictional Characters In Bed — Okonkwo Is Less Talk, More Action is a great read.

5. Ikhide Ikheloa http://xokigbo.wordpress.com/
Nigerian art critic who reads and writes loudly. Essays galore there; nothing for you bite sized news junkies.

6. James Murua’s Literature Blog www.jamesmurua.com
This is blog run by Nairobi based James Murua and gives news and reviews on African literature.

7. Kinna Reads http://kinnareads.com/
This blog is managed by the blogger who enjoys world literature and is partial to women writers and their works, especially African women writers. The blogger keeps you abreast of Ghanaian literature as well as other of her favourite writers on the continent. Apart from the usual news and reviews, she offers reading lists as well as an annual reading challenge for you to try and get your reading game on point.

8. Maisha yetu Kenyanbooks.wordpress.com
This site is run by Nairobi based journalist Joseph Ngunjiri. It focus on the arts in general but has quite a bit of information from the Kenyan publishing industry.

9. Mary Okeke Reviews http://www.maryokekereviews.blogspot.com/
Run by Barcelona, Spain based Mary Okeke, the blogger gives news and reviews from the African literature scene regularly enough. Also has interviews with your favourite writers out there including the legendary Chinedu Achebe (I know, I thought it was a typo but it really isn’t). Could produce more content for her fans (that includes me).

10. So many stories www.somanystories.ug
Managed by Ugandan Nyana Kakoma, this blog focuses on Ugandan literature. It is still relatively new but it looks like it will be doing a very good job for the news from the pearl of Africa.

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A look at the Chimurenga Chronic

“Chimurenga” is a word in the Shona language meaning “revolutionary struggle.” It refers to the uprisings by the Ndebele and Shona against the administration by the British South Africa Company duringthelate1890s. In contemporary times it is a publication of arts, culture and politics from and about Africa and its diasporas. You can read more about the publication at its official Wiki page here.

Many Kenyans will remember the Chimurenga as one of the spaces that Binyavanga Wainaina wrote his world famous Iamahomosexualmum piece. That piece was actually in the ChimurengaChronic describing itself as “a quarterly pan African gazette” that can be gotten physically as well as in thedigitalprotesterturnedradiobigwig. We can’t also forget the discussion on power and persuasion with a look at election posters in Uganda with Yoweri Museveni and Bwesigye showing their commando side which I found hilarious.

This was quite a substantial read so you can imagine that it took a while to read and digest; I love this as the world is currently in a wave of simplifying everything in the reading market for the least brightest human being. While I love the “not geniuses” (being a card carrying member and all) sometimes it is nice to read what the really bright ones are saying about issues that matter or should matter to the rest of us.

For the book lover they have a special “pull out” they call Chronic Books and here they give you interviews of respected folks in the business like novelist Ama Ata Aidoo, playwright Guy Regis Junior, The Desert Shore editor Christopher Wise, Ibrahim Sheme who recently completed a Hausa translation of Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and several others.

The best part of that Chronic Books was the reviews of books that are out there in the African market. Here you will see people giving opinions on the books that you keep hearing about in the news winning awards and can’t access in Bookpoint or Bookstop just yet. In this edition there were reviews of Ghana Must Go by Taye Selasi (the reviewer N Bassey really hated that book), Penumbra by Songeziwe Mahlangu (a more positive review by Bongani Kona) and Katoondozi Y’Orunyankore by Yoweri Museveni (yes him M7) and others (Bwesigye Bwa Mwesigire didn’t love it very much). For someone who wants to see what’s happening in the literature business in Africa right now then this pull out gives a decent snapshot.

I’m not sure when the next one is out. However if you want to get a copy of this read in Nairobi I suggest you contact MichaelOnsando who is distributing them for Chimurenga locally.

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Lauren Beukes in running for 2nd Arthur C Clarke Award 2014

Lauren Beukes

Author Lauren Beukes is an author of several titles including Moxyland, Zoo City and The Shining Girls. Her second book Zoo City which was published in 2010 was the novel that won the Arthur C Clark Prize for science fiction in 2011.

The Arthur C Clark is the most prestigious award for science fiction in Britain originally established by a grant from Sir Arthur C. Clarke to promoting science fiction. So you can imagine how chuffed some of us that South African Beukes had gone home with the top honours in that year.

For those who write for prize money (I see you) the prize money isn’t the highest. It had been £1000 since the prize started in 1987 but was increased to UK£2001 in 2001 as a gesture to the movie 2001: A space odyssey. The price has since been growing by £1 to reflect the year so this year should be expected to be UK£2014.

Lauren Beukes is in the running for the 2014 prize for her book The Shining Girls which was published by HarperCollins last year. The book, which is quite good, is about a serial killer dude who goes around offing young women over different time periods in time in a time machine “House” and the one who escaped to stop him. That’s a simple recap so I really have to review it for this blog soonish.

The book which was very recently bought out by the Leonardo Dicaprio TV company has been listed as one of the books which could go away with the big prize when it is announced later in the year. Lets hope our Lauren brings back the gong.

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Story about gay issues wins Writivism competition

The other weekend I was in Kampala for the Writivism Festival 2013. This is a new initiative based in the Ugandan city to “connect literature to reality.” In English it is for the purpose of nurturing young writers and giving them a platform to shine. The brains behind the whole thing is Makerere University professor Brian Bwesigye who should you meet in him at the guest house having a beer you’d think it was one of the students.

The process of the competition was a pretty simple one. A call out was made where writers would submit stories on the themes of Diversity, Equality and Identity. The judges Zukiswa Wanner (Chair), Ayodelle Morroco-Clarke and Ernest Bazanye then announced a shortlist of five of the best that followed them. These stories were published in The Monitor Newspaper and readers were asked to vote for their favourites.

The winner Anthea Paelo (pictured) emerged with first runner up as Nassanga Rashidah and second runner up Kathryn Kazibwe. Paelo took home a one-year writing contract with Simua worth UGX1,000,000/= (US$387), a ticket to the Women, Words and Power Breakfast in Johannesburg, South Africa, a copy of Onyeka Nwelue’s Abyssinian Boy, a copy of Zukiswa Wanner’s Men of the South and KWANI? 7.

Her winning story is Picture Frames a touching tale about a woman who loses her beloved son. The boy has taken his own life because he is gay and she is left devastated by it all. Sadly for the boy his father is not even remorseful that he lost his only child because of his condition… wait is being gay a condition? Anyway the story is set in Uganda which is interesting considering just how much the Ugandan establishment is a fan of those who will date their own. To read the story please click here.