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Art Work by Laolu Senbajo of Afromysterics

Curated by Brittle Paper, written by Ayodele Olofintuade, with images to accompany the stories by Laolu Senbajo, starting today, February 19th, and for the next six weeks get ready to enter the wondrous and terrifying world of an Abiku. Titled, Adunni: The Beautiful One Has Not Yet Died, this project is an urban fantasy ensemble made up of eight stories and conceptual artwork. 

I first learned about Abiku, spirit children, when I tried (and failed) to read Ben Okri's Famished Road as a teenager. As Brittle Paper explains: 

'Abiku is the Yoruba word for a caste of spirit    beings strangely bound to death. They are born to life as human children but die soon after their birth only to be reborn for yet another cycle of death and rebirth'.

In a piece written for Bella Naija, Ainehi Edoro of Brittle Paper goes into more detail on the Abiku phenomenon:

'Is there a standard life cycle for all Abikus? No. Every Abiku tells Mother Earth how long it intends to stay and does everything it can to stick to that time frame. Some Abikus pledge to die a few says after they are born or months. Others might stay till right after their wedding night. They may choose to return to the same family several times until the mother's body dries out with age or decide to make their rounds with different mothers'. 

Having given a brief background on Abiku, here's a bit on the project courtesy of Brittle Paper:

'Adunni: The Beautiful One Has Not Yet Died is an eight-story ensemble built on the strange and terrifying world of an Abiku. For millenia, Adunni has had a good run as an abiku - no bereaved family or powerful Babalawo has tried to prevent her return to the spirit world. 

Ages of successful, glitch-free comings and goings have made her powerful, envied by fellow Abikus, loved by Mother Earth. But her luck runs out when she is born into the Lamorian family. 

Adunni: The Beautiful One Has Not Died is a gripping story of betrayal and lust for power. It is also a story of death and struggle to overcome death. Conniving and power-hungry gods are pitted against weak, selfish, and clueless humans. A pastor's fervor is set against a Babalawo's wisdom.  A mother's undying love is tried by a child's terrifying power. Adunni's story is not, for all this, a mythological fable. It occupies that weird place where mythology tips over into urban fantasy. Adunni is set in present day Lagos and written by Ayodele Olofintuade, who knows so much about Yoruba cosmology that she can break the rules in unexpected ways'.

The series sounds fascinating, but I'm also really loving the artwork by Laolu Senbajo. All that's left to say is check out Brittle Paper starting February 19th (and for the next six weeks) to follow the tale of Adunni, which by the way I have always thought is a beautiful name. 
07:08 No Comments
Jalada Africa is a pan-African writers' collective, made up of writers who took part in a Writing Workshop by Kwani Trust, Granta & British Council in 2013. Jalada Africa's aim:

'to publish literature by African authors regularly by making it as easy as possible for any member to publish anything or execute any literary project as quickly and effectively as possible'.

Their first project, an anthology of twelve short stories, Sketches of a Bald Woman in the Semi-Nude and Other Stories, (loosely themed around insanity) was published in January 2014 and is available to read on their website.

Their next anthology will be published in April 2014 - and their aim is to publish new anthologies every quarter.

08:36 No Comments
There are some authors whose works I really must own and must read. One of them is the Aya series written by  Marguerite Abouet and illustrated by Clément Oubrerie. The original six were published by Gallimard between 2005 and 2010,  with English versions published by Drawn & Quarterly between 2007 and 2013. D&Q published the first three volumes, and then a reworked edition with the first three volumes in one (Life in Yop City) and another with the last three volumes (Love in Yop City). Aya tells the story of its 19-year old heroine, the studious and clear-sightd Aya, her easy-going friends Adjoua and Bintou and their meddling neighbours and relatives. In an interview on Bookslut, Marguerite says Aya is:
'autobiographical in the way that it's the Ivory Coast I know. The characters are based on my neighours. They had complicated stories and affairs with men. So the characters and places are things I know in real life. The story itself is fiction'. 
On the series, Marguerite Abouet  also explains:
'That's what I wanted to show in Aya: as Africa without the ... war and famine, an Africa that endures despite everything because, as we say back home, life goes on'.
Aya won the 2006 award for Best First Album at the Angouleme International Comics Festival. It also won the Children's Africana Book Award in 2008 and the Glyph Award (in 2008 for Rising Star Award, 2010 for Best Female Character and in both years for best Reprint Publication) and was adapted into an animated film.

Aya (2007)

Ivory Coast, 1978. Family and friends gather at Aya's house every evening to watch the country's first TV ad campaign promote the fortifying effects of Solibra, "the strong man's beer." It's a golden time, and the nation, too - an oasis of affluence and stability in West Africa - seems fueled by something wondrous.

Who's to know that the Ivorian miracle is nearing its end? In the sun-warmed streets of working class Yopougon, aka Yop City, holidays are around the corner, the open-air bars and discos are starting to fill up, and trouble of a different kind is about to raise eyebrows. At night, an empty table in the market square under the stars is all the privacy young lovers can hope for, and what happens there is soon everybody's business.

Aya of Yop City (2008)

This continuation of the dynamic story by Marguerite Abouet and Clement Oubrerie returns to Africa's Ivory Coast in the late 1970s, where life in Yop City is as dramatic as ever. Oubrerie's artwork synchronizes perfectly to Abouet's funny and lighthearted writing, which together create a spirited atmosphere and scenarios that, however unique to the bygone setting, remain entirely contemporary in their effect.

The original cast of characters is back in full force, with a case of questionable paternity fanning the flames of activity in the community. The new mother Adjoua has her friends to help with the baby, perhaps employing Aya a bit too frequently, while a new romance leaves Bintou with little time for her friends, let alone their responsibilities. The young women aren't the only residents of Yopougon involved in the excitement, however; Aya's father is caught in the midst of his own trysts and his employer's declining Solibra beer sales, and Adjoua's brother finds his share of the city's nightlife.

Aya: The Secrets Come Out (2009)

Secrets and desires cast long shadows in the third volume of Abouet and Oubrerie's warmly acclaimed series about life in the Ivory Coast in the 1970s. It's a world of shifting values, where issues like arranged marriage and gay love have Aya and her friends yearning to break out of the confines of their community, while the ties of friendship and support draw them back into this familiarity. 


Aya: Life in Yop City (2012) Book One

This reworked edition offers readers the chance to immerse themselves in the lively world of Aya and her friends, bringing together the first three volumes of the series in Book One. 

Aya: Love in Yop City (2013) Book Two



Aya: Love in Yop City comprises the final three chapters of the Aya story, episodes never before seen in English. While the stories found in Aya: Love in Yop City maintain their familiar tone, quick pace, and joyfulness, we see Aya and her friends beginning to make serious decisions about their future. When a professor tries to take advantage of Aya, her plans to become a doctor are seriously shaken, and she vows to take revenge on the lecherous man. With a little help from the tight-knit community of Yopougon, Aya comes through these trials stronger than ever.

This second volume of the complete Aya includes unique appendices, recipes, guides to understanding Ivorian slang, street sketches, and concluding remarks from Marguerite Abouet explaining history and social milieu.

Doesn't it sound fascinating!!!!! Luckily I did get a copy over the holidays while I was in Canada, but it was Volume 3 - so it is all by itself on my shelf waiting for the other volumes to come find it. They will come soon. Until then, here is a look inside Aya:



Source: Comic Art Communication

Source: Words Without Borders

 Source: Drawn & Quarterly
Source: Drawn & Quarterly

And here's the poster for the film:



07:02 3 Comments

Rhumba South African film director and screenwriter, Elaine Proctor’s, first novel was published in 2012. This is another novel that I really wanted to read when it first came out, but never got a chance to until recently. This is also another review coming in much later than I anticipated. Thank you also to Quercus for the review copy. 

Set in an immigrant Congolese community in North London, Rhumba is the story of Flambeau – a ten year old boy who was smuggled out of Congo to live with his mother’s family in London for a better life. Flambeau’s mother, Bijou, was meant to come soon after him, but she never showed up. While waiting, Flambeau experiences abuse at the hands of his uncle. He eventually decides to go look for her and feels the sapeur he meets called Knight, might be able to help. He also meets Eleanor, Knight's Scottish girlfriend. With time, Flambeau and Eleanor develop a bond. 


I seem to be reading a lot of 'not-so-happy' stories lately. Here's a little boy who has been smuggled into London, is abused, is homesick and misses his mum. Yet, through Flambeau’s youth and innocence Elaine Proctor manages to write a story about hope.So while this could have been a depressing immigrant story, from Flambeu's eyes it makes you realise that there is hope even in the darkest circumstances.  Another thing I loved was how through her writing I could ‘see’ what I was reading - the rooftop where Flambeau hunts down pigeons, his conversations with Eleanor. Most of all, while reading it I felt that there really was rhumba playing in the background. Honestly, I probably should have listened to some Rhumba while I was reading it.  Elaine Proctor even selects some of her favourite Congolese rhumba music and artists mentioned in the book. 

Overall, I did enjoy this book, with equal parts of pain and hope. 
07:56 No Comments
The FT Weekend Oxford Literary Festival (formerly The Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival) is an annual literary festival where you can meet and listen to authors and public figures in ... well, Oxford. 

This year it's happening March 22 - 30 and already the line up includes the Children's Laureate, Malorie Blackman, Alexander McCall Smith, author of The No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Series and more. They also have scheduled an India day and an Italian day.

As the title of the post states, Taiye Selasi will also be there. Her talk is scheduled for 10am on Sunday 23rd March at Bodleian: Divinity School.

Selected as one of Granta's 20 Best Young British Writers in 2013, Taiye Selasi's debut novel Ghana Must Go a story about the Sais - a broken family - was selected as one of the best books of 2013 by the Wall Street Journal and The Economist. In 2005, her text on Afropolitans', Bye-Bye, Babar was published in The Lip Magazine. She has also written two short stories, The Sex Lives of African Girls, which was published in Granta in 2011 and appeared in Best American Short Stories 2012 and Driver - also in Granta.

It's a good thing the beau lives in Oxford. Now I'm just going to have to convince him to see Taiye Selasi at 10 am on a Sunday. Wish me luck!!! Also must remember 1) to bring my copy of Ghana Must Go, 2) not be too shy to ask her to sign it if the opportunity arises, 3) get said beau to do it as most certainly I will be too nervous to approach her. 





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Founded in 2011, bookshy represents two things: the young me who was so shy I escaped through books, and the older me whose shelf is always one book shy of being full.

bookshy is a space where I celebrate, promote and recognise contemporary African literature - although sometimes I go back in time to commemorate the greats. It is about the books I love, the books I have read and the books that I am dying to read.

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