LIFESTYLE - The African Mirror

Jul

10

2021

Set in Chad, Cannes film ‘Lingui’ explores abortion struggles

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

THE director behind "Lingui", a Cannes Film Festival entry about a teenager's battle in Chad to get an abortion, said he hoped the story would resonate well beyond the African country, including in places like the United States where there are vocal anti-abortion movements. Mahamet-Saleh Haroun said he was inspired to explore the issue after reading stories about babies abandoned or killed by their young mothers in Chad, where abortion is only allowed in specific cases where a woman's life is in danger. "Speaking to women, it turns out that these are struggles they have been going through for so…

Apr

08

2021

By The African Mirror

Banky W and Adesua Etomi heal from their twins’ loss

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

MPHO RANTAO BANKY W and actress Adesua Etomi have gone through a long journey of healing and faith as a family. The Nigerian couple opened up about Adesua Etomi’s miscarriage, in a featured episode of The Waterbrook Series. "So we got pregnant and we got pregnant with twins. And we had gone for the scans, we had seen the heartbeats. At this point very few people knew what happened," Etomi said. Adesua Etomi explained in the web series that during a routine visit to a doctor with her husband, the doctor had noticed the lack of heartbeats and knew immediately…

Jul

09

2021

By The African Mirror

New Kiswahili science fiction award charts a path for African languages

LITERATURE

THE 6th edition of The Mabati Cornell Kiswahili Prize for African Literature, suspended last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, is back. Founded in 2014, the prize recognises writing in African languages and encourages translation from, between and into African languages. Kiswahili is widely spoken across the east coast of Africa. This year’s prize also offers a special award designed to promote and popularise a Kiswahili vocabulary for technology and digital rights. We spoke to the prize founders – literary academic Lizzy Attree, also of Short Story Day Africa, and literature professor and celebrated author Mukoma Wa Ngugi – on…

Apr

07

2021

By The African Mirror

My name is Thandiwe Newton

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

MPHO RANTAO BRITISH actress formerly known as Thandie Newton has announced that she now wishes to be (correctly) called Thandiwe Newton. Newton told British Vogue in an interview that her professional name had been misspelled in Hollywood after her name was incorrectly spelled in the 1991 film ‘Flirting’. Joining a growing list of other celebrities who have also told the public that their names were spelled or pronounced incorrectly, like Anne Hathaway and Saoirse Ronan, Newton said that she is now on a mission to reclaim the correct spelling of her name. "That’s my name. It’s always been my name.…

Apr

15

2021

By The African Mirror

Book Review | Remnants of Miriam Tlali

LITERATURE

BARBARA BOSWELL EDITED by esteemed feminist literary critic Pumla Dineo Gqola, Miriam Tlali: Writing Freedom presents a kaleidoscopic view of Miriam Tlali’s life and writing. The book’s most significant contribution may be that it renders into print, for the first time, a previously unpublished play by the pioneering writer. The text of the play, Crimen Injuria, landed fortuitously with Gqola after a chance encounter at the State Theatre in Pretoria, where a stranger offered it to her, having found it at the theatre. Understanding Writing Freedom’s significance hinges on understanding the significance of Tlali in South African literature. Born in 1933 in Doornfontein, Johannesburg, Tlali…

Apr

15

2021

By The African Mirror

Nigerian icon Fela is long overdue for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

SCROLLING through the comments made on YouTube on Fela Anikulapo-Kuti’s music, one comes across remarks such as: “The greatest unknown musician who ever lived”, “Why isn’t Fela’s music more widely known?”, “His music beats everything I’ve ever heard before” and “Why am I so late to this?” SANYA OSHA, Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Humanities in Africa, University of Cape Town The truth is that during Fela’s extraordinary lifetime, the Nigerian’s notoriety as an engaged citizen fighting for social justice was what usually attracted attention – and not his music. His public persona as a cultural renegade, an incorrigible iconoclast…

Jul

08

2021

By The African Mirror

Lookbook: Thebe Magugu debuts at Pitti Uomo 100

BEAUTY AND FASHION

MPHO RANTAO THEBE Magugu made his menswear debut at Italy’s Pitti Uomo showcase, with his latest collection titled “Doublethink”. Inspired by Western films and George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984, Magugu gave the audience a gaze into the gaucho-masculine world of exposing corruption in Africa, turning the Florentine salon, at the Fortezza da Basso, into an interrogation room. 2019 LVMH winner Thebe Magugu. Picture: Instagram Magugu was chosen as Pitti’s first black guest designer for its 100th show edition. “I like to express my opinions through my clothes and reflect what happens in my own country and continent,” he told WWD. …

Apr

14

2021

By The African Mirror

Miss South Africa unveils costume for Miss Universe

BEAUTY AND FASHION

MPHO RANTAO MISS Universe South Africa has revealed her costume ahead of her departure for the U.S. Natasha Joubert will be jetting off to Florida, where she will participate, on her country’s behalf, in the 69th Miss Universe pageant. The current Miss Universe and longest-reigning queen in its history, South Africa’s own Zozibini Tunzi, will crown her successor on the final night at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. Joubert, with the Miss South Africa organisation, unveiled her costume and evening gowns for the preliminary rounds of the pageant where each contestant will showcase their national costume and complete…

Jul

06

2021

By The African Mirror

DJ cop shows South Africa the other side of that blue uniform

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

JAMAINE KRIGE “I see them as twins and I love them both,” Constable Lucky Matome laughs as he describes juggling his two lives; one, a kwaito music artist, the other that of a policeman in the South African Police Service. “When you have twins you cannot say one is more beautiful than the other, because they are different but identical, and they are both your children. Like twins, I must treat them equally and give them equal attention, so that one does not suffer because of the other,” he said. His police work is important and it allows him to…

Apr

14

2021

By The African Mirror

Lagos Fashion Week to go ahead

BEAUTY AND FASHION

AFRICAN MIRROR REPORTER LAGOS Fashion Week has been confirmed for the autumn/winter collection previews by designers across Africa and the global diaspora. The week of showcasing new fashion collections would take place in April, and that some of the collections featured would come from some of Africa’s most successful, and up and coming designers, it was announced on Instagram. The theme for this quarter’s event is “Woven Threads II: Moving in Circles’ in partnership with Fashion Revolution. The theme is a continuation from its first edition of Woven Threads that showcased traditional craft by designers that adopted more responsible approaches…