LITERATURE - The African Mirror

May

18

2023

Winnie and Nelson: new book paints a deeply human portrait of the Mandela marriage and South Africa’s struggle

LITERATURE

A powerful new book on Nelson Mandela and Winnie Madikizela-Mandela has just been published. Winnie and Nelson: Portrait of a Marriage is at once a double biography of South Africa’s two famous liberation leaders and a historical love story about their personal lives. Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years during apartheid and went on to become the country’s first democratic president. For her part, Madikizela-Mandela was persecuted relentlessly by the white minority government as she organised the resistance. After democracy, the couple divorced. Jonny Steinberg, political scientist and award-winning author, answers six questions about his book. Author JONNY STEINBERG, Senior…

May

16

2023

By The African Mirror

Black and Bold Queens is a new children’s book celebrating women in Ghana’s history

LITERATURE

A new children’s book, Black and Bold Queens: Women in Ghana’s History explores the lives of 16 notable female pioneers and leaders in the West African country, with a strong focus on the independence period of the 1950s and 1960s. It was written by Dr Nikitta Dede Adjirakor, a writer and academic researcher in east and west African literature and popular culture. We asked her about this trailblazing project. Author NIKITTA DEDE ADJIRAKOR, Postdoctoral research fellow, University of Ghana What made you decide to write the book? In 2020, during the first months of the COVID pandemic, I kept thinking…

May

16

2023

By The African Mirror

Fear and loathing in South Africa: book examines how anxiety plays out in everyday life

LITERATURE

SOCIAL scientists have shown how freedom in South Africa has lost its meaning for many in the country. Despondency about democracy is on the rise as the promise of prosperity under a caring government continues to ring hollow for many, thanks to poor governance, corruption and incompetence. Nicky Falkof is a media studies professor who researches race and anxiety. The Conversation Africa’s Thabo Leshilo spoke to her about her book, Worrier State, which shows how narratives of fear manifest in mainstream and digital media, and the role that ‘race’, class, gender, space and identity play in these in the country.…

May

09

2023

By ANNA ADIMA

Children’s book revolution: how East African women took on colonialism after independence

LITERATURE

AS independence from British colonial rule swept across East Africa in the early 1960s and freedom was won in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania, parents and teachers worried about what their children were reading. Most children’s books on the market were dominated by European writers like Enid Blyton. One of Kenyan writer Ngugi wa Thiongo’s most stringent criticisms of colonialism was the explosive effect of this “cultural bomb” in the classroom, as missionaries taught African students Western cultures and foreign histories. This, according to Kenyan publisher Henry Chakava, was producing a new breed of black Europeans, who began to despise their…

May

02

2023

By The African Mirror

Amma Darko uses fiction to portray the real plight of women and street children in Ghana

LITERATURE

AMMA Darko is one of Ghana’s leading novelists, known for exploring gritty social issues and the lives of women. There is much to be unearthed in the childhood narrative of deprivation and danger that she tackles in her 2003 work Faceless. Authors PULENG SEGALO, Chief Albert Luthuli Research Chair, University of South Africa THERESAH PATRINE ENNIN, Senior Lecturer in English, University of Cape Coast Faceless is the story of an investigation into the death of a young girl called Baby T, a child sex worker whose naked body is found dumped behind a marketplace, beaten and mutilated. During the progression…

Apr

29

2023

By The African Mirror

Guinea book festival hopes to turn the page on low literacy rate

LITERATURE

SOULEYMANE CAMARA GUINEA'S national sports stadium buzzed with people seeking a different kind of workout this week, as minds flexed and stretched in pursuit not of muscle gains, but literary enrichment. The 15th edition of Guinea's "72 Hours of the Book" festival unfolded in venues across the capital Conakry, bringing together a wide array of writers, publishers, and readers from the West African country and across the continent. The annual three-day event is aimed at celebrating books and promoting literacy in a nation where over half the population is illiterate, according to World Bank figures, and access to libraries is…

Mar

24

2023

By The African Mirror

Noni Jabavu was a pioneering South African writer – a new book shows how relevant she still is

LITERATURE

NONI Jabavu was the first black South African woman to publish memoirs and one of the first African women to pursue a literary career abroad. She left the country as a teenager to pursue an education and returned intermittently throughout her life. She returned to South Africa in 1977 to research her father’s biography. Some of her best-known work became the witty, insightful and politically charged columns she wrote for the Daily Dispatch newspaper. But this pioneering figure had been all but forgotten until writer and academic Makhosazana Xaba and historian Athambile Masola focused their attention on her life and…

Mar

16

2023

By The African Mirror

Toyin Falola: 3 recent books that explain the work of Nigeria’s famous decolonial scholar

LITERATURE

TOYIN Falola, distinguished professor of history, is one of Africa’s most accomplished intellectuals. Born Oloruntoyin Falola in 1953 in the Nigerian city of Ibadan, he grew up in a sprawling, polygamous household that practised Islam, Christianity and ancient Yoruba spirituality. Author SANYA OSHA, Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Humanities in Africa, University of Cape Town This confluence of multiple worldviews and religions reflects in his thinking and in his massive academic output. Falola has produced something like 200 books in all areas of the human and social sciences and travels widely to deliver lectures at conferences and public events. Africa…

Mar

02

2023

By The African Mirror

From Chinua Achebe to Toyin Falola – 5 essential books Nigeria’s new president should read

LITERATURE

NOT many African political leaders are known to have publicly declared their love of reading. US President Barack Obama popularised the idea of a recommended reading list and he still shares his annual choice. Author OLAYINKA OYEGBILE, Journalist and Communications scholar, Trinity University, Lagos As a communications scholar and a book reviewer, I made a short list of essential reads for Nigeria’s new president. My selection of books is based on what a new president needs to know when he takes the reins of a deeply divided and disillusioned country. Nigeria has many problems. Disunity deepened under the Muhammadu Buhari…

Feb

16

2023

By The African Mirror

Invisible Trillions review: global capitalism operates beyond the rule of law and threatens democracy

LITERATURE

SECRECY has become as important for corporations as transparent and taxable profits used to be, according to Raymond W. Baker in his new book Invisible Trillions. Global capitalism, he argues, operates beyond the rule of law. This contributes to extreme inequality that threatens liberal democracy. Author JOHN J STREMLAU, Honorary Professor of International Relations, University of the Witwatersrand Deals in the financial secrecy system account for half of global economic operations. This is far beyond illicit transfers of funds through corporate under-pricing and overpricing of exports and imports, or the drug and other criminal networks 50 years ago. Tax havens,…