We write what we like about Steve Biko
What does it mean for a dead man to live through us, as we chant his name and claim him?
Lit
Literary Sudans
The online retrospective, “Literary Sudans," is intended to highlight the two Sudans as sites of literature and culture.
Why does South African history continue to be written primarily by white scholars?
The striking minority of black contributors in South African historiography is a scandal more than a decade after the end of apartheid.
The Trouble with the Nigeria Prize for Literature
Should we care that Africa's richest book prize is paid for by a company with unethical business practices?
Jakes Gerwel and “the intellectual home of the left”
The fate of the University of the Western Cape, set up for coloureds, radicalized by black consciousness and from where the ANC prepared to govern.
Legson Kayira, the first Malawian novelist, has died
Malawi had three first novelists: David Rubadiri, Aubrey Kachingwe, and Legson Kayira, who has died this
Chinua Achebe reflects on Biafra, but for whom?
Achebe's "There Was a Country: A Personal History of Biafra" reopens old wounds about the civil war.
The Geopolitics of Hunger
Former UN envoy Jean Ziegler on Third World hunger: "We Let Them Starve."
Nollywood–Nigeria’s Mirror
The Nigerian poet and critic, Odia Ofeimun, on how Nollywood depicts traditional culture and religion.
The women at the doorway
The photographer Aida Muluneh's work explores Ethiopia via identity, personal journey, and family nostalgia after a 30-year absence.
Michael Jackson in Tamale
A review of a new memoir by Ghana's new President, John Dramani Mahama.
Big Frizzle’s ‘Africa’
This music video for Big Frizzle’s ‘All Black Everything’, produced by London-based media house GlobalFaction made
The fear of being a terrible writer
A South African writer gets invited to the Farafina Creative Writing Workshop in Lagos, Nigeria. Her main takeaway: writing is an act of faith; an ancient form of prayer.
Zanele Muholi’s “Mo(u)rning” | Exhibition
On Thursday, July 26, the Michael Stevenson Gallery in Cape Town had an opening: Mo(u)rning. Photographic
This sea shall be uprooted
Makoko, in Lagos, with over 100, 000 residents, is viewed as a shantytown. There’s more to it. This is the destruction of a community.
Reading List: Lily Saint
The author, a regular contributor, summarizes four new books she's been reading.
Wet Hot African Summer
We’ve scoured the web to bring you the best and worst romance, adventure, intrigue, and kinky fantasies Africa has to offer.
Binyavanga’s writing out of depression
Writing on depression in Africa is a rarity, so Binyavanga Wainaina's book, "One Day I Will Write About This Place," seems singular.
Struggles over memory in South Africa
Revisionism pervades popular culture in South Africa now, coloring our perception of the past.
Somewhere between folklore, memoir and modern fiction
Reading Yewande Omotoso's novel "Bom Boy," just when you think you’ve figured the characters out, the author opens them up a little more, and our perceptions change.