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Kojo Laing's works have been on my to-read list for the longest time, and recently while in Kampala (thank you Bookpoint stall at Writivism), I finally got my hands on two of them: his first novel Search Sweet Country, and the second one Woman of the Aeroplanes. Already excited about the prospect of finally owning and getting to read Laing's novels, this morning I came across the latest issue of Chimurenga's Chronic - which explores ideas around mythscience, science fiction and graphic storytelling. 

If the new issue wasn't exciting enough, in it Nikhil Singh (if you haven't seen his stunning illustrations, check some of them out here) has a graphic story that imagines the Achimota Wars from Laing's 1992 novel, Major Gentl and the Achimota Wars. Set in 2020, the novel pits Major Gentl against the mercenary Torro the Terrible for control of Achiomota City. The two warriors prepare for a final battle which will decide the fate of Africa's future.


Clearly, now I'm on the hunt for the latest issue of Chronic, but check out one of Singh's illustrations - I mean look at the detail - and then head over to Chimurenga to see more.

Image via Chimurenga Chronic


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I've just returned from Uganda - having spent 7 days in Kampala as part of the 2016 Writivism Festival. It was an exciting and interesting experience, and I'm currently gathering my thoughts to put together a post on my experiences and reflections of the festival. While I do that, I thought I'd share a bit of the festival through pictures. Enjoy!


The funders and partners.
The venue: Uganda museum


Part of the awesome Writivism volunteer team.
Early mornings!
The books





Ugandan literature
The school visits 


The Workshops 
The book launches

The evening performances - this one's a Long Story Short reading of 'Tropical Fish'

4 of the 5 Writivism Short Story Prize shortlisted writers + the performer who read 2 of the stories
The readings - this one's for 'Safe House'
Huza Press readings
Gambit readings
... and of course, my book haul!

10:45 3 Comments
Another new release for 2016. This time from the Congolese author, Richard Ali A Mutu - one of the selected Africa39 writers. Mr. Fix It - out December 13, 2016, and published by Phonome Media, is the first novel to be translated from Lingala to English. Pretty cool!! The original novel, EMBABA, Kinshassa-Makambo, was in fact one of the few stories in an indigenous African language that was selected for Africa39. Here's an excerpt courtesy of Amazon: 
Ebamba's name means 'mender' in Lingala, but everything in the Congolese twenty-something's life seems to be falling apart. In the chaotic megacity of Kinshasha, the educated but unemployed young man must navigate the ever widening distance between tradition and modernity - from the payment of his fiancee's exorbitant dowry to the unexpected sexual confession of his best friend - as he struggles with responsibility and flirts with temptation. Mr. Fix It introduces a major new talent who leads a new generation of writers whose work portrays the everyday realities of Congolese life with the bold, intense style associated with the country's music and fashion. 


Definitely looking forward to its December release, and check out this conversation with Richard Ali A Mutu on Jalada.
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A couple of years ago I did a post showcasing a few of the African book covers, Nigerian artist, photographer and writer Victor Ehikhamenor has designed over the years - more than 25 book covers he stated during an interview in 2013 - as well as Ehikhamenor's book cover design process.

Art work via victorehi.com
Well, since then I've noticed a few more covers he has designed, and because (probably sick of hearing this at this point) I love me some book covers, here's a look at them.







What are some of your favourite Victor Ehikhamenor book cover designs?
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In less than a week, I'll be boarding a flight and making my way to Entebbe, and then Kampala for the 2016 Writivism Festival. Celebrating its fourth year, Restoring Connections is the theme - connections between African writing in English and French, and I am sure other connections will be explored along the way. This will be my first time in Uganda. 




Last year had panels on Anglophone and Francophone Literature with my girl-crush Ndinda Kioko, Aaron Bady and Edwidge Gro; as well as on non-fiction with Mukoma Wa Ngugi, Ikhide Ikelola and Michela Wrong to name a couple. This year, there will be readings, workshops, book launches, key note speeches and more. At the Festival will be publishers, journalists, academics, authors, visual artists, bloggers, activists and more - from over 10 countries. I'll be there as a blog partner, as an observer, as a moderator, but more than that, I'll be there as an African book lover.

I'll be honest, I don't know what to expect; but I do know I am excited to be in Kampala, to be at Writivism - to see what the city and festival has to offer. I will, of course, be sharing as much as I can while I am there - taking tons of photos, chatting to as many people as  I can, tweeting where I can; and will share as much as I can here on the blog when I get back. 

So here's to literature, to African literature, to literary festivals and to Writivism. Uganda, here I come!!!!


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It has been four years since the plague began - the rat fever launched by the terrorists. Back then it was spread through human suicide bombs. Today, the terrorists mostly use rats. Jinxy Emma James - twelve at the time - also lost her father, to a heart attack; and her mother became a shell of her former self. Now sixteen, Jinxy is an expert sniper in The Game. So good that she finally won it - after eighteen months of playing it; and will now be heading to PlayState for the ultimate prize - a real-life simulated sniper mission.  This eventually leads to an even more ultimate prize - selected to join the Advanced Skills Training Programme at the Advanced Specialised Training Academy (ASTA), and be part of the first ever elite sniper squad. 

I should mention that we are in the US - a futuristic, dystopian one divided into three sectors: the Northeast, the Mid-and-West and the South. I should also mention that everyone wears Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) - masks, gloves, respirators and the extreme ones, disposable PPE suits - protection from the rat fever. Additionally, after the plague children stopped going out (to be safe), except on designated special occasions a number of times a year, and The Game really took off. Finally, there are many different roles you can play in The Game: a sniper (like Jinxy), a spy, a code-breaker and intel agent or even Ops Management. There are, of course, more things I could mention; but here's one more thing - this is the brilliant and dark world that South African author, Joanne Macgregor has created in Recoil - the first part in The Recoil Trilogy. 

I loved this book! But to be honest, after reading two other books by Joanne Macgregor, I am such a fan of her writing, that I can't wait for part two in the trilogy. I also really truly believe Joanne Macgregor can write anything. Macgregor also writes really nuanced and real female characters. 

Jinxy is bad-ass. She is without a doubt the best sniper in her unit; she is determined; she is eager to learn; she doesn't see failing as an option; and she is not afraid to call out anyone who sexualises her, such as Bruce her squad member, constantly fixated with her looks- Jinxy has blond hair, blue eyes with a streak of blue in her hair. 

Enough about Jinxy's looks, the first ever elite squads job is extremely important - eliminate the dangerous rodents. Very important, as they are the ones that spread the fever, and cause the plague. And you don't want to be infected by these rats -trust me! With time, Jinxy gets promoted to even more special ops work - that's just how good she is! There is, however, a problem! Well, two! 

One - as good as a sniper Jinxy is, she really struggles to shoot the animal targets - the tangos (T for targets) - even if they may be deadly and are infecting (and eventually killing) people. As bad-ass as Jinxy is, a soft interior could be seen as a bad thing for an elite sniper squad. Second, is eighteen-year-old Quinn O'Riley - also selected to join ASTA's training programme. 

Ah Quinn! Hottie Quinn - with his darker hair and skin and Irish accent; with his 'lean face and strong jaw' - who Jinxy is instantly attracted to (and it seems the feeling is mutual). Questioning Quinn, who doesn't take things at face value. Selected for Intel division Quinn, who is morally opposed to ratters - snipers like Jinxy. This, particularly becomes a major problem after their six week ASTA training, and Quinn finds out what division Jinxy has been training for (people were unable to talk about their training with non-division members). How do these new, and young, lovers survive this difference in opinion on the importance of ratters? 

Recoil was an absolute joy and pleasure to read, and I was hooked from the first line. I was totally immersed into this world Joanne Magregor created, and I also found it believable - a plague that affected the world, the Government's response, setting up a special ops unit with young people, particularly having a young girl as a sniper - especially, when women are usually the last ones people would expect to be expertly trained snipers, and especially young ones. I honestly can't wait for part two - Refuse; and if you're a fan of dystopian YA, with a kick-ass female lead, then definitely give this a read.
22:20 2 Comments
I haven't kept it a secret on this blog, I love book covers and design and illustrations - so much so I spent last October (my dedicated Naija month) celebrating Nigerian book covers and illustrations. Well, with the forthcoming release of the UK edition of Nnedi Okorafor's Akata Witch (titled What Sunny Saw in the Flames), I wanted to celebrate the fan art I've stumbled across over the last couple of years celebrating the main character in the book - Sunny. 


 
The US, Nigerian and UK covers

When I first read Akata Witch, I found it to be such a refreshing book, especially for someone who grew up reading and loving YA fantasy like Harry Potter. I was 13 the summer my mum came home with the first 3 books in the series (back then I had no idea what a great journey I was in for) and I fell in love instantly. To follow Sunny's magical education and training was absolutely fun, and her mission - along with the other magicians in the quartet - had me geeking out on many levels. Similar to Nnedi Okorafor's other YA novel, Zahrah the Windseeker, as I read I knew that the 13-year-old me who was reading Harry Potter would have loved to have read Nnedi Okorofar's books at that age.

Another thing that stood out for me when reading Akata Witch was Okorafor's portrayal of Sunny, a young albino teenager, without adopting the negative stereotypes often associated with albinism in literature. Indeed, while there are many novels with characters with albinism in them (e.g. Silas in The Da Vinci Code - religious fanatic/assassin) the most common depiction is often that of myths, danger and terror, and of villainous people - the hitman, assassin, sociopath or crime boss. Within African literature, a few cases I can think of with albino characters briefly mentioned in the story includes Ben Okri's Famished Road, where spirit albinos are mentioned a couple of times. There's  also the albino wife that is brought home to the village in Buchi Emecheta's The Moonlight Bride.

Yet, here was Sunny:
'I'm albino and I've known it all my life ... My hair is still light yellow, my skin is still the colour of "sour milk", and my eyes are still light grey-green like God ran out of the right colour. And I still hate the sun, too.'
Although I have to say, since I read Akata Witch, another book that doesn't fall solely on negative stereotypes is Petina Gappah's The Book of Memory. It follows Memory, an albino woman convicted of murder and sentenced to death, who writes her memories and her emotional and physical experiences of being an outsider. Gappah who 'wanted to say something about race without really saying anything about race' has explained why she chose to write about an albino character.


Sunny, as Okorafor once explained in a post, was inspired by the nine-year-old daughter of one of her mother's friends, who she spent a week with when she visited Nigeria, who has:
' ... a wonderfully strong personality. And she happened to be albino. She was paler than most white people and had blonder hair, yet she was as Igbo and nappy-haired as anyone in her family. 
She loved to make jokes and one day she just went off on a diatribe about the discrimination she experiences in Nigeria because she was albino.  After that week, I knew I'd write about her. I'd been kicking around an idea about Nigerian kids and magic and she fit right into the story.'
And it's clear that fans of Nnedi Okorafor, and specifically Akata Witch, have resonated with Sunny - with a number of fan art it has inspired:


This one is from Danielle George who wanted to draw both Sunny and her spirit face. 


This one's from Carey Pietsch


This one is from @Adxnna

This one's from That Gets My Goat


This one is from A-Nola of Sunny's new juju knife

This one from V. Martin goes beyond Sunny to include the magical quartet of magicians.
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About me

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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