bookshy: 2020

It's been quiet here for a minute ... and I haven't completely returned from my self-imposed hibernation (work and life is really making it difficult to find the time), but I had to share a really fun new series for the kids. This exciting new comic book series is from Miia Torera, miiato, and for children aged 4 to 8.

The Incredible Kids Comic Series follows the adventures of three toddler superheroes: Incredible I, Starboi, and the Amazing Amaziah. I read the first two books in the series Chocolate Crisis and Enter the Mummy over the weekend, and I am hooked. Both stories were equally engaging and hilarious. I found myself chuckling, and in some cases, laughing out loud, while reading.

We first meet our superhero trio in Chocolate Crisis, where the world's supply of chocolate chip cookies will possibly be destroyed. Yes, every last one of them!!! Thankfully Incredible I - the oldest of the sibling superhero trio - is here to save the day. Can Incredible I, or should he, do it on his own? Will Incredible I, join forces with his siblings - Starboi and Amazing Amaziah - to rescue these yummy snacks many of us cannot live without? Also, can they decide on a name for their 'good guyz' gang before the mission even begins?

In their next adventure, Enter the Mummy, Incredible I and Starboi, team up (wonder where Amazing Amaziah is?) to solve the ancient immortal, the Mummy's, clues to stop the Bedtime bomb going off. They have 30 minutes to ensure it doesn't go off. Why? Because, if they don't, all the world's children will be forced to go to sleep - whether they are tired or not.

Images via Amazon

I loved both comics and the fun way in which teamwork is portrayed, how we are introduced to each of the brothers' superpowers (you'll have to get a copy to find out), and the lively illustrations. The focus of each book (saving the world from a loss of cookies, and trying to beat bedtime) is extremely cute and hilarious. I especially love how Enter the Mummy transports us into the imagination of toddlers. How amazing their thoughts and adventures are, but also how the Mummy - in providing clues - is also supporting their creativity. It also transported me to my youth, and the different games my siblings and I would play to entertain ourselves.

The Incredible Kids is a really fun and exciting comic series, and I can't wait for the next adventure the sibling trio get up to. What other mission will T.E.D.D.Y have for I.S.A? Will the bad guyz - Teddy Toughs - return? Oh, and will Amazing Amaziah make an appearance again (because I am obsessed with that blue hoodie)? I guess we will have to stay tuned.

PS. If you want to find out even more about I.S.A, head to miiato's website. The interactive page adds to the fun and adventure of this Incredible (pun intended) series.

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The 2020 AKO Caine Prize shortlisted stories are written in humorous, tragic and satirical tones.

2020 makes twenty years of the Caine Prize for African Writing - now known as the AKO Caine Prize for African Writing - and this just in, the shortlist for the 2020 AKO Caine Prize for African Writing has been announced. It features five stories that “speak eloquently to the human condition” through a diverse array of themes and genres. This year’s shortlist was determined virtually by the judging panel.

Twenty-eight countries were represented in this year’s eligible entries: Angola/Cabinda; Botswana; Cameroon; Cote D'Ivoire; Democratic Republic of Congo; Egypt; Ethiopia; Ghana; Kenya; Libya; Malawi; Mauritius; Morocco; Nigeria; Namibia; Rwanda; Senegal; Sierra Leone; Somalia; South Africa; South Sudan; Sri Lanka; Sudan; Tanzania; The Gambia; Uganda; Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The shortlisted authors for this year’s Prize are from Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda and Tanzania. They are:

Erica Sugo Anyadike (Tanzania) for ‘How to Marry An African President’ published in adda: Commonwealth Stories (2019)

Chikodili Emelumadu (Nigeria & UK) for ‘What to do when your child brings home a Mami Wata’ published in The Shadow Booth: Vol.2 (2018)

Jowhor Ile (Nigeria) for ‘Fisherman's Stew’, published in The Sewanee Review (2019)

Rémy Ngamije (Rwanda & Namibia) for ‘The Neighbourhood Watch’, published in The Johannesburg Review of Books (2019)

Irenosen Okojie (Nigeria & UK) for ‘Grace Jones’ from "Nudibranch", published by Hachette (2019)

Image via AKO Caine Prize

Excited by this shortlist, and I do not envy this year's judges. I'm making my way slowly through the shortlisted stories, and have started with Chikodili Emelumadu's story on Mami Wata's, which is written in the form of a paper - could even say a journal article.

"Please note: ‘Mami Wata’ (also known in various other regions as ‘Mammy Water’) is used in this context as an umbrella term for both genders of the popular water entity (i.e. Mami and Papi Watas) and does not represent those other mer-creatures without the appearance of absolute humanoid traits. For these other non-humanistic water entities including but not restricted to: permanent mermaids and mermen, crocodile fellows, shark-brides, turtle crones and anomalous jelly blobs of indeterminate orientation, please see our companion volume, ‘So You Want to Kill a Mer-Creature?’ which will guide you through the appropriate juju framework to avoid or deflect repercussions and will elucidate general and specific appeasement rituals. See also, ‘Entities and Non-entities: The Definitive Legal Position on Aquatic Interspecies Marriages, Non-Marriage Couplings and Groupings’"

On the shortlist, the Chair of judges, Director of The Africa Centre, Kenneth Olumuyiwa Tharp CBE, said:

“We were energised by the enormous breadth and diversity of the stories we were presented with – all of which collectively did much to challenge the notion of the African and diaspora experience, and its portrayal in fiction, as being one homogenous whole.

These brilliant and surprising stories are beautifully crafted, yet they are all completely different from one another. From satire and biting humour, to fiction based on non-fiction, with themes spanning political shenanigans, outcast communities, superstition and social status, loss, and enduring love. Each of these shortlisted stories speak eloquently to the human condition, and to what it is to be an African, or person of African descent, at the start of the second decade of the 21st century.

Together, this year’s shortlisted stories signal that African literature is in robust health, and, as demonstrated by the titles alone, never predictable.”

Joining Kenneth Olumuyiwa Tharp on the 2020 judging panel are Audrey Brown (South African broadcast journalist), Gabriel Gbadamosi (Irish-Nigerian poet and playwright), Ebissé Wakjira-Rouw (Ethiopian-born nonfiction editor and policy adviser at the Dutch Council for Culture in the Netherlands), and James Murua (Kenyan based journalist, blogger, podcaster and editor).

The AKO Caine Prize has had to postpone this year’s annual award ceremony, and hopes to announce the winner of this year’s £10,000 prize in the autumn noting that "the safety of our authors, staff, guests and partners remains a priority, and the Prize will continue to closely monitor the latest government guidelines." Each shortlisted writer will also receive £500.

The shortlisted stories will be published in the AKO Caine Prize anthology, alongside stories written at the AKO Caine Prize workshop - and also through co-publishers in 16 African countries.

Congratulations to the shortlisted authors, and counting down to later in the year when the winner is announced. Until then, I'll be showcasing the shortlisted authors and sharing their stories and more exciting content.

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Image via Pinterest

It's a nice sunny Sunday here (don't worry - I am enjoying the weather from my living room), and I'm back with my round-up of reads. This week saw a mix of oldies and newbies on the reading front. Here, we go!

Did you know Wole Soyinka sang? Moshood shares this bit of information over on Africa is a Country.

"For a time in his mid-20s, Soyinka was a cafe singer in Paris. Two decades later, back in Nigeria, he wrote a two-track album named 'Unlimited Liability Company'. Although much of the singing was fone by actor and musician Tunji Oyelana & His Benders, Wole Soyinka's voice also features on both tracks."

Image via discogs

Also on Africa is a Country, Decolonising the Lens by Bhakti Shrigarpure focuses on Rwandan novelists Scholastique Mukasonga's novel Our Lady of the Nile, which has been adapted into a film from French-Afghan writer and director Atiq Rahimi:

"'Our Lady of the Nile' has stayed steadily in the limelight in the last few years. The original French publication in 2012 was followed by the English translation in 2014, as the book garnered awards and acclaim. And now, Rahimi has given it yet another life by bringing it to the big screen Admirably shot entirely in Rwanda, with Rwandan actors and with plenty of dialogue in Kinyarwanda, Rahini's film is visually breathtaking, tightly edited and an emotional rollercoaster. It is no surprise that it has already snapped up some awards at film festivals."

Still from Our Lady of the Nile via berlinale.de

Over on True Africa, Jackie Budesta Butanda writes about building a sanctuary for creating stories in Uganda.

Next is this piece on the real Lord of the Flies. I first read Golding's Lord of the Flies at 14 for my Literature GCSEs/O Levels, and I remember - even at that age - being mortified by what I read and appalled by the lack of humanity of the boys. This article focuses on six boys from Tonga who were shipwrecked on a deserted island in the 1960s. "What they do, this little tribe? They made a pact never to quarrel."

There's a great new forthcoming series on African feminisms in dialogue, on "how young, African feminist scholars are using their life experiences as sources and resources for theorising their feminism," and Rama Salla Dieng introduces us to it.

On the film/series front, I'm yet to watch Queen Sono, but Tsogo Kupa writes that Netflix might not be the right home for a new wave of African film and television, and does this by focusing on the new Queen Sono series.

I also read a lot of music-related content this week - mostly old ones, including a 2014 write-up from Marissa Moorman on Brenda Fassie - "a woman who stepped out of line, talked out of turn, wore the pants, pulled up her skirt, loved women and men," and a throwback interview with Fela Kuti from 1993. Staying with Fela, okayafrica published an interview with Bernard Matussiere on photographing Fela and the Kalakuta Queens. On interviews, check out Yomi Adegoke's one with Megan Thee Stallion, while gal-dem shared some lockdown music, including a new EP from Little Simz, which she recorded during lockdown.

Image via Africa is a Country

Little Richard passed away this weekend (both Brenda Fassie and Little Richard passed away on May 9 - Fassie in 2004 and Little Richard 16 years later in 2020), and read an older article on Little Richard from 2015 in the Oxford American:

"Music fans are insatiable. The records are not enough. We are historians, anthropologists, archivists, psychologists. Little Richard is not just a legend but one of the last people alive among that first wave of rock & roll, the prime movers and shakers. So it is probably inevitable to treat Richard Penniman like a public treasure."

Moving away from music, a friend shared with me this read on how today people are finding partners using techniques from management consultancy.

Finally, Friday was VE (Victory in Europe) Day, and marked 75 years, and my readings centred on the African soldiers that fought for Britain during WWII. First, a photo essay from last year on Britain's Abandoned Black Soldiers. Followed by a video from 2015 on West Africa's soldiers in Burma. That's all for this week.

Photo via Foreign Policy

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Image via Pinterest (@illustration315)

The last week has been a bit weird for me, but I have to say I've been really looking forward to sharing my reads today. Confession! I have an excitement I haven't really felt in a while when it comes to my blog. No idea how long this feeling will last, so I'm going to go with it for as long as it is here. Over the week I've done quite a bit of reading, watching and listening. Here we go!

I begin with an epic list of Morrocan books in English. I aspire to create a list of this nature.

"The below list gathers 172 titles. That's 106 novels, short stories (collections or short stories), and plays; 37 poetry collections or single poems; 21 memoirs and essays, and 12 collective works (not least of which is Akashic Books' Marrakesh Noir, edited by Yassin Adnan, a collection that makes 11 authors available in English are not translated elsewhere)."

Now where does one start with Moroccan fiction? ArabLit Editor Nadia Ghanem asks. Head over to ArabLit to find out exactly where to.

Next are three interviews. First, from Africa in Words and a Q&A with Ethiopian-American writer, Maaza Mengiste. On the 'many-layered stories and histories' in The Shadow King, Mengiste had this to say:

"One of the things that I decided, very, very, very early in my approach was to write a book that reflected history as a series of voices that sometimes conflict. I didn't want to tell a story that was linear. History itself is not linear. It has different narratives colliding, intersecting, and joining, which leave gaps. It means myths, legends, and falsehoods. I really wanted to reflect on the mythic quality of memory and history as one of the many ways that we remember, even if it may not necessarily be the way it happened."

Followed by Louisa Egbunike interviewing Nigerian SFF author, Wole Talabi on Vector (journal of the British Science Fiction Association). On translating the science that he is interested in (Talabi is an engineer) into a narrative, Talabi explained what makes him take the leap:

"I think it's probably because of the way I was raised? So much of what I know about science, and history, and politics, I learned through stories.

For instance, I read my dad's entire encycolopaedia collection before I was nine. I didn't really understand 90% of what I was reading, but I was reading it anyway! He has this one encyclopaedia of science and technology, filled with biographies of scientists and philosophers, from the early Chinese philosophers all the way to modern times ... They'd talk about the theories the scientists came up with, but they would also mention that this guy was a womanizer, he was a gambler, this guy stole this formula, or he won it in a card game. So there was always personality associated with the scientific knowledge."

Finally, three-time Hugo award winner, NK Jemisin says in a recent interview 'it's easier to get a book set in black Africa published if you're white.' Staying in the world of Science Fiction and Fantasy, Jonita Davis writes about the science fiction subgenre becoming a vehicle for Black women artists.

Image via Yes Mag

In a previous life, I was in the academic world, and this piece in Catapult is from Nadia Owusu on Women of colour in academia often working harder for less respect. I read it a few months ago, but it came back up in my feed and re-reading it. While, it's more America focused, it really reflects some of the reasons why I didn't even think twice about not being in academia at the moment in the UK.

Less pandemic reads this week, but here are two: one from Carey Baraka on two major epidemics in now Eastern Uganda and Western Kenya that meant his grandfather had to self-isolate over a century ago. Then, a piece on Africa is a Country, which sees Iriann Freemantle reflecting on Africa's eternal lockdown in comparison to Europe's temporary one.

"As Europeans currently experience these short-lived restrictions on movement, it is an exceptional time to reflect on what Africans endure permanently in all of Europe's name and the significance of freedom of movement to everyone in the world."

In the world of music, Tony Allen passed away Thursday evening - and Rolling Stones pay tribute to the legendary musician and pioneering Afrobeat drummer, and Gorillaz recently shared a new show with Tony Allen and Skepta.

Screenshot via Daily Motion

I am watching and listening a lot more, and here's a lockdown playlist of Classic African albums from African arguments, as well as a playlist put together by Kalaf Epalanga inspired by the Afrolit Sans Frontier Virtual Literary Festival. Also, check out this short documentary celebrating Black [American] sitcoms. That's all for this week - some of what I've been reading, watching and listening to.

Screenshot via YouTube

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Image via Pinterest

I'm back with a round-up of my reads from the past week and, I must say, this time I read a mix of new and old articles. Here we go!

Beginning with this piece from Paris Review on Senegalese writer, Mariama Ba, as part of their feminise your canon series. Then, moving on to The Republic's First Draft series - a weekly column about reading, books and writing. This week's edition featured Nigerian writer, Suyi Davies Okungbowa. Side note: I love the yellow aesthetics used for First Draft.

Screenshot via The Republic

Hannah Giorgis might be one of my favourite culture writers, and the past week I spent a lot of time reading a number of Giorgis' articles. Starting with this brilliant piece centred on Princess Carolyn and Diane Nguyen getting the endings they deserved on BoJack Horseman (the series sixth, and final, season aired earlier this year).

"For a series that spent so much of its running time exploring the interiority of one depressed, narcissistic (horse)man, BoJack closes out with a refreshingly broad purview - namely, one that appreciates the show's leading women as stand-alone characters rather than as mere accessories to the protagonist's growth."

Other articles from Hannah Giorgis I devoured this week includes The Art of Shooting a Modern Black Romance on The Photograph starring Issa Rae and Lakeith Stanfield and When Black Artists Make Mediocre Art.

I am trying to keep my pandemic-related reads to a minimum, but I didn't do too well on that front this week. It was difficult as more beautiful writing was shared this week by African women on their personal experiences around what is happening in the world at the moment.

Novuyo Rosa Tshuma who writes about embracing technology at the moment, "missing bodies", and the loss of a certain kind of intimacy.

"It is amazing just how much contact we usually engage in almost on a daily basis even in our contemporary, isolated lives ... As I make essential runs to the grocery store and to the park for exercise in the present climate, I am disoriented by how deserted and devoid of human presence the world around me is. Strangers whose proximity has been integral to my sense of being human are now missing bodies."

Image via Times Select

Another personal and honest piece about living in these current times comes from Rama Salla Dieng writing on being tired all the time due to combining caring, parenting and home working.

"In reality, we were all grieving. We grieved as we realised the farce of it all. The precariousness and the fragility of it all. Our normal lives and our self-care routines."

Another one I read this week, includes Elizabeth Adetiba's piece on Caster Semenya and the cruel history of contested black femininity. It looks at how the bodies of a growing number of athletes who are women and mostly from African countries, are put direclty in the crosshairs of World Athletics' regulations due to their hyperandrogenism

Beyond reads, African Arguments have put together a watch-list of African films and TV shows that can be streamed, while many of us stay at home. To that list, I'd like to add Atlantique (Atlantics in English). There's also this short film Boys No Dey Cry, on toxic masculinity, mental health, religion and family I learned about while reading this article on men's mental health in Ghana.

I end with an Oral History of 1997's 'Cinderella' - remember the one with Brandy as Cinderella and Whitney Houston as the Fairy Godmother? And that's it - things I've read (and watched) the past week.

Brandy in her Cinderella dress. Photo by Debra Martin Chase. Image via Shondaland

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Not Tonight, I'm Reading by Vashti Harrison via Pinterest

A few years ago I started doing a round-up of articles I read online, and shared it here. I stopped after a while, but I wanted to start it back up again - at least for the time being. It will mostly be centred on African literature or African-focused reads, but as I don't even follow my own rules a lot of the times - I might switch things up occasionally and share some non-African content that I've really enjoyed reading. Here we go!

I'll start with the most recent article I read, History begins in her stories, from Siphiwo Mahala who traces his own story with short stories beginning with his grandmother 'one of the most exceptional storytellers [he] ever came across'. Mahala weaves her oral narratives with his own immersion into various forms of literature and South Africa's history of oral and written [short] stories.

Next, is Pwaangulongii Daoud's Portrait of Kaduna City, a Half Completed Story, detailing why Daoud 'loves Kaduna more than any place'.

The city is not my birthplace. I came to it as a teenager. Which meant I had contained sentiment for other places before discovering this one. Kaduna is the city of my firsts: first heartbreak, first sex, first self-discovery, first books, first writing, first lies, first horror, first riot, first suicide attempt, first rejection. Maybe what I share with this city is not love.

Screenshot via LitHub

Ayobami Adebayo, Chigozie Obioma, and Romeo Oriogun 'reveal psychologically complex male interiors' in this piece that probes masculinity in their works. While Lucky Grace Isingizwe writes about Small Presses, Creative Writing Workshops & Literary Prizes in Africa, and how 'for emerging African writers, small presses are more than a way to publish your work; they become a lifeline for learning writing craft and building networks that nurture connections and opportunities'. Also read about Edwige-Renee Dro's new library, 1949, focused on women's writing from the continent and diaspora.

I'm keeping pandemic-related reads to a minimum, but must share Ukamaka Olisakwe's honest and heartfelt essay on Motherhood and Mental Health During a Pandemic. As well, as this piece from Sisonke Msimang, Homesick: Notes on lockdown.

Staying within the realm of literature, here are two pieces centred on Black literary foremothers in America. The first looks at Black women-led literary salons like A'Lelia Walker's The Dark Tower by Jamia Wilson. The second is a long, but brilliant read on The Life of Zora Neale Hurston by Michael Adno.

Image via Bitter Southerner

Moving beyond literature, it was extremely insightful to read about The Last French Speaker in Lagos - a tiny community of French speakers in Lagos who can trace their roots to the nearby border with Benin. In the world of music, if you haven't heard about the controversial Nigerian artist, Naira Marley and his Marlian ideology, Yomi Adegoke has you covered. For more music coverage, here's a piece on the Lusophone sounds of Cape Verde-born, Lisbon-based singer Dino D'Santiago.

Not an article, but definitely check out Project 3541, a collection of photographs of the 1935-41 war between Ethiopia and Italy. Another really cool website, with some fab articles on the Black British experience, is the Black Cultural Archives. It's an amazing resource with tons of pieces to keep you entertained and informed, such as this one on Black British Pop Culture and the History of Protests and the Black Women's Movement and its role within British feminism. That's all for now. What I've read and loved recently.

Screenshot via Project 3541

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