Next Time They’ll Come to Count the Dead
Their voices, sharp and angry, shook me from my slumber. I didn’t know the language, but
Lit
The Myth of the African travel writer
African travelers, it would seem, must still justify their movements across the planet (whether the motives be professional, economic or political).
When Haile Selassie went to Jamaica in 1966
The 21 April 1966 visit by Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie to Jamaica casts a big spell over the appeal of Ethiopia to Rasta and how Ethiopians perceive Rasta in turn.
A Revolution in Many Tongues
There is not a single journal devoted to literary criticism in an African language or any writer residencies that encourage writing in African languages.
Ghanaian Facebook Proverbs
No, Albert Einstein never said this on Facebook: “Having an okro mouth does not mean you will be given banku to go with it.”
Abdi Latif Ega and the rejection of the ‘African’ novel
Somali-American novelist Ega speaks about creating complex characters, the relationship of images to creative writing and the state of African literature today.
Love, race and history in Ghana
Historian Carina Ray on her book that explores the history of interracial intimacy in the Gold Coast and Ghana.
The militant philosopher of Third World liberation
In 1953 Fanon moved to Algeria to work in the small town of Blida, about 50
Books of 2015
A small corrective to the tide of Big Media book lists that champion a small and predictable group of authors who together give at best a limited Eurocentric view of our world.
Decolonising Lesotho’s Literary Landscape
Lesotho writers and creators' growing awareness that they are part of a global society and just trying to claim their place as agents in this world that they live in.
Grasping the specificity of the political in Africa
Revisiting the Ugandan political scientist Mahmood Mamdani’s seminal book, "Citizen and Subject: Contemporary Africa and the Legacy of Late Colonialism."
Bedtime reading for George Clooney
How can international advocacy movements be self-reflective and accountable to the people on whose behalf they speak?
Sex, beer, and ndombolo
A Congolese writer whose work oscillates between gripping dystopia and humanist celebration.
The tale of a state in limbo
Borderlines (2015) is Michela Wrong’s debut novel. Taking the perspective of a British narrator named Paula, it
Losing London
Ishtiyaq Shukri writes about his deportation from London’s Heathrow airport in July 2015.
Why Should Colonialists be the Centre?
The Algerian novelist, Kamel Daoud, gives a name and a history to Albert Camus's "The Stranger."
Aliens in Lagos
The futuristic Lagos of Nnedi Okorafor’s sci-fi novel, 'Lagoon.'
Body Politricks and the Worlds in Between
A review of American writer Ta-Nehisi Coates’s “Between the World and Me"
Discover The Ma’Ati, a new storytelling platform for travelers
The Ma’Ati is a new digital storytelling platform created by Africa is a Country contributor Shamira
The single story of African design
A new book highlights African innovation, challenging dominant perceptions of the continent.