Ben Okri on the Late Chinua Achebe
“He was a man who answered the questions of his times, the times in which he found himself, in tough, brief, elegant novels and in doing that actually helped to create a language of literature in which many of us…
Category: Blog
Okri Engraved on the Memorial Gates, London
Only free people can make a free world. Infect the world with your light. Help fulfil the golden prophecies. Press forward the human genius. Our future is greater than our past. The last four lines of Ben Okri’s poem,…
What’s your African book to inspire?
Do you want to feature on the #Africawrites blog? You can if you share your book of inspiration with us! In the lead up to our live African Books to Inspire evening, hosted by journalist Hannah Pool, we want to…
Zeinab Badawi, Broadcast Journalist: “Achebe gave a voice to Africans for generations to come, including my own”
What is your “African book to inspire”? It has to be Things Fall Apart – usual suspect, yes, I know, but I had to choose it. I first read it back in my student day and apart from being ‘the…
Five lists of African literature we love
Chinua Achebe. Things Fall Apart. Wole Woyinka. Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o. These are the familiar writers and book titles that feature on African literature lists. It’s hardly surprising since they are among the greats – and we are of course big fans…
More Fishes Than Stars
I’m not too certain about many things. And I’m not sure who I am. I ain’t got no mother and no father. I’m slow like the trees when they grow. I’m sluggish, like the ocean when it moves. Ben…
A Discussion on Starbook and Inspiration
When asked to shed light on the opening of Starbook, Ben Okri gives a typically whimsical response, “Artists, composers, when they work magic it’s because they make connections with that mysterious book among the stars. You could call it inspiration…
Ten and a Half Inclinations
Books are like Mirrors, Don’t just read the words, Go into the mirror. That’s where the real secrets are, inside, behind. That’s where the Gods dream, Where our realities are born. Ben Okri gives advice on what to read (and…
Ben Okri on Ayuba Suleiman Diallo
I am one on whom providence has worked its magic reversals. Behind me are silent stories, like a storm. I have worn History around my neck, like chains. Freedom is a difficult lesson to learn. I have tasted the language…
Mental tyranny
Ben Okri expounds and exalts “the genius of inner freedom” in this profound yet controversial article for The Guardian. From James Joyce to Homer, Okri argues that great literature transcends subject; the beauty of art giving the work a greater…