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#ReclaimHerName – or maybe don’t?
In 1939, Ann Petry published her first short story “Marie of the Cabin Club” though the name “Ann Petry” was not listed as the author, instead, it was “Arnold Petry”. Like her, throughout history, women have taken on masculine pen names in order to publish their writing in a sexist and misogynistic (publishing)…
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Mami Watas, president’s wives, and a stew – The 2020 Caine Prize Stories
The AKO Caine Prize for African Writing is awarded each year to one short story by an African/ African-diasporic writer. You can read all the stories online via the Caine Prize website. The winner will be announced on July 27th with a film by Joseph Adesunloye. Of course, the question had to come up at yesterday’s 2020 AKO Caine Prize Conversation…
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July, August, September 2020: 15(+) Most-Anticipated Books
We are already in the third quarter of – what the hell is this year – 2020. But one thing I can say: the next three months promise a lot of great books in a wide array of genres from horror to philosophy, historical novels to queer memoir. Here are some, I am…
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April, May, June 2020: 15(+) Most-Anticipated Books
A new quarter is starting tomorrow and I think most of you share the feeling that the first one of this year has been going on forever… But here we are now and persumably the next three months will be pretty taxing aswell. Of course, there are always books for some comfort, for…
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January, February, March 2020: 15(+) Most-Anticipated Books
Here we are again: Finally, I put together my list with most-anticipated books for the first three months of 2020. I am very much excited for all the books listed (and I am also excited to still discover books I don’t know of yet). I share brief descriptions of the book (either from…
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Why I Don’t Read White Men And You Do Not Need To Either
The new year is barely four days old and it is still that time of the year in which people think about their New Year’s resolution. (Hopefully) Many readers might say to themselves that in 2020 they really need to read “more diversely”. I am not a fan of the term itself –…
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My Best Books 2019
When I think about my reading year 2019, I first and foremost think about big, big books. For someone whose general preference lies with shorter books (250 pages just seems pretty ideal), I did pick up a lot of books going on 400 pages and far beyond – and in a lot of…
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Podcast #10: Panashe Chigumadzi
Panashe Chigumadzi is an essayist and novelist. Her first novel, Sweet Medicine, was published in 2015 (Blackbird Books) and won the K. Sello Duiker Literary Award in 2016. In 2018 her second book These Bones Will Rise Again was published as the first book of The Indigo Press. She is the founding editor of…
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Podcast #9: Ayesha Harruna Attah
Ayesha Harruna Attah is the writer of three novels. Her debut novel, Harmattan Rain, was shortlisted for the 2010 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, Africa Region. Her most recent novel, The Hundred Wells of Salaga, is a wonderful historical novel set in pre-colonial Ghana following two women whose fates intersect. This novel has been translated…
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October, November, December: 15(+) Most-Anticipated Books
October and November are brimfull with exciting releases and that’s why I focussed on these two months and less in December. But these two month have everything from stimulating theory over captivating memoirs to wonderfully strange stories. Like always, I share brief descriptions of each book (either from Goodreads or the publisher’s page,…
