It’s been a long nine weeks of lockdown without physical book launch events – thankfully IG Lives, Zoom and other video conference forums have stepped in to create a new experience of engaging with the latest releases. But maybe you…
Republished from the British Library Asian and African Studies Blog (for the soundtracks / audio please read the original article) It’s summer again, if briefly, and once more we have had the great pleasure of hosting the annual Africa Writes…
On Sunday 7 July at Africa Writes 2019, we hosted our popular flagship panel African Books to Inspire with a special focus on masculinity featuring Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀, Peter Kimani, Sulaiman Addonia and Zahrah Nesbitt-Ahmed. This panel examined the construction of…
AFRICA WRITES 2019 FESTIVAL ROUND UP From Friday 5 July to Sunday 7 July, Africa Writes 2019 brought lovers of African literature to the British Library for a fantastic literary festival! It was a busy summer weekend for London, as…
If you’ve been following us on our socials, you would know that we kicked off our festival countdown with a weekly #WednesdayWisdom campaign which focused on Chigozie Obioma’s headline event. We explored the beauty of Igbo proverbs in his latest…
Win Saturday Day passes to Africa Writes 2019! Join us for a day of exploring, creating and interrogating what it means to be a young Black person in Britain today! On Saturday 6 July, Africa Writes 2019 present a carefully…
Finding My Way Back Home – The Power of Folktales Maïmouna Jallow Mze Jomo Kenyatta was facing Mount Kenya when he had his epiphany. Some 500 kilometers southeastwards, I was facing the Indian Ocean when I had mine, and it…
The shortlist for the 2019 Caine Prize for African Writing has been announced, featuring stories that tackle “the ordinary in an extraordinary manner” and celebrate the diversity of the African short-story writing tradition for the twentieth edition of the Prize….
Our Bodies Speak Poetry, our first headline event, is set to be an exciting evening filled with awe-inspiring storytelling, and a poetical exploration into our relationship with the (physical, political, and fantastical) body. The evening will open with a dance…
In March 2019 Africa Writes festival co-producers, Caitlin Pearson and Marcelle Akita, travelled to Rwanda and Kenya on a scoping trip funded by British Council to connect with literature professionals. This trip was especially important for this year’s festival programme,…