Harlem is Nowhere
Excerpt from Sharifa Rhodes Pitts‘ memoir of the black metropolis, “Harlem is Nowhere,” which came out
Lit
Vargas Llosa in Congo
Not sure whether Peruvian author Mario Vargas Llosa’s new novel, El Sueño del Celta (The Dream
The Bang Bang Club
Journalists in South Africa are picking up on how the film, "The Bang Bang Club," treats some of the Bang Bang Club's black colleagues. And other Weekend Specials.
Jeremy Cronin’s Cape Town
The leftist and poet Jeremy Cronin speaks on identity politics and race in South Africa's second city, Cape Town.
When Malcolm X went to Africa
"As long as we think that we should get Mississippi straightened out before we worry about the Congo, you’ll never get Mississippi straightened out."
The Party is not The Nation
From that same interview that I have been so liberally cutting and pasting from this week—in
Pseudo-cosmopolitanism
More from that 2008 Comparative Literature interview with my favorite Communist poet, Jeremy Cronin. Bua Komanisi:
Slipping into individualistic comfort
The daily word of inspiration (cut and pasted from Contemporary Literature) from my favorite, comtemporary Communist,
The Global Imagination of James Baldwin
An interview with Rich Blint, a James Baldwin scholar. Biggest takeaway: Baldwin lamented the fragile human impulse for categorization.
The Politics of Necessity
Over the course of fifteen years (1994-2009), Elke Zuern has interviewed civic and social movement leaders,
When Thelonious Monk first met Dollar Brand
By 1964, Dollar Brand (later Abdullah Ibrahim) had already made 3 LP's as a bandleader. He was living in Switzerland and had just gotten a boost from Duke Ellington.
Memoirs about Africa
Timothy Burke, Swarthmore history professor–he’s written a book on commodity culture in Zimbabwe–and blogger, has a
Animal Farm
In Cape Town this January, Ken Salo invited Jessica and I to presentations by summer abroad
'Coming to America'
[vodpod id=Video.5972910&w=500&h=411&fv=videoId%3D897337827001%26amp%3BlinkBaseURL%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.newyorker.com%252Fvideo%253FvideoID%253D897337827001%26amp%3BplayerID%3D673564960001%26amp%3BplayerKey%3DAQ%7E%7E%2CAAAAAF1454s%7E%2CQH_ygumSKiVg91q-ZwBlqWe1HcfbhDds%26amp%3Bdomain%3Dembed%26amp%3BdynamicStreaming%3Dtrue] Writer Teju Cole— he has a new novel, “Open City”–talks and writes about identity
Poetry Radio
Although it was only launched a year ago, Cape Town-based Badilisha Poetry Radio is rapidly building
The Prophet Karl Marx
Few intellectuals have changed the world in such practical ways.
No One Will Remember The Book Cover
I received my copy of this year’s Commonwealth Prize winner Aminatta Forna’s The Memory of Love in
Teju Cole takes the City
Our man Teju Cole’s novel “Open City,” set in post-9/11 New York City, is doing better
Kwame Dawes and Chris Abani
Last year, Chris Abani introduced Ghana-born writer and poet Kwame Dawes (who spent most of his