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Who if anyone owns the past reflectio...
An Orchestra of Minorities by Chigozi...
A heart-breaking and mythic story about a Nigerian poultry farmer who sacrifices everything to win the woman he loves, by Man Booker Finalist and author of The Fishermen, Chigozie Obioma.
A contemporary twist on the Odyssey, An Orchestra of Minorities is narrated by the chi, or spirit of a young poultry farmer named Chinonso. His life is set off course when he sees a woman who is about to jump off a bridge. Horrified by her recklessness, he hurls two of his prized chickens off the bridge. The woman, Ndali, is stopped in her tracks.
Chinonso and Ndali fall in love but she is from an educated and wealthy family. When her family objects to the union on the grounds that he is not her social equal, he sells most of his possessions to attend college in Cyprus. But when he arrives in Cyprus, he discovers that he has been utterly duped by the young Nigerian who has made the arrangements for him. Penniless, homeless, we watch as he gets further and further away from his dream and from home.
An Orchestra of Minorities is a heart-wrenching epic about destiny and determination.
Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Ad...
They killed my mother.
They took our magic.
They tried to bury us.
Now we rise.
Zélie Adebola remembers when the soil of Orïsha hummed with magic. Burners ignited flames, Tiders beckoned waves, and Zélie’s Reaper mother summoned forth souls.
But everything changed the night magic disappeared. Under the orders of a ruthless king, maji were killed, leaving Zélie without a mother and her people without hope.
Now Zélie has one chance to bring back magic and strike against the monarchy. With the help of a rogue princess, Zélie must outwit and outrun the crown prince, who is hell-bent on eradicating magic for good.
Danger lurks in Orïsha, where snow leoponaires prowl and vengeful spirits wait in the waters. Yet the greatest danger may be Zélie herself as she struggles to control her powers and her growing feelings for an enemy.
Heads of the Colored People by Nafiss...
Brief Summary
Longlisted for the National Book Award for Fiction and Kirkus Prize Finalist
Calling to mind the best works of Paul Beatty and Junot DÃaz, this collection of moving, timely, and darkly funny stories examines the concept of black identity in this so-called post-racial era.
A stunning new talent in literary fiction, Nafissa Thompson-Spires grapples with black identity and the contemporary middle class in these compelling, boundary-pushing vignettes.
Each captivating story plunges headfirst into the lives of new, utterly original characters. Some are darkly humorous—from two mothers exchanging snide remarks through notes in their kids’ backpacks, to the young girl contemplating how best to notify her Facebook friends of her impending suicide—while others are devastatingly poignant—a new mother and funeral singer who is driven to madness with grief for the young black boys who have fallen victim to gun violence, or the teen who struggles between her upper middle class upbringing and her desire to fully connect with black culture.
Thompson-Spires fearlessly shines a light on the simmering tensions and precariousness of black citizenship. Her stories are exquisitely rendered, satirical, and captivating in turn, engaging in the ongoing conversations about race and identity politics, as well as the vulnerability of the black body. Boldly resisting categorization and easy answers, Nafissa Thompson-Spires is an original and necessary voice in contemporary fiction.
How to Love a Jamaican by Alexia Arthurs
Brief Summary
From a magnetic new voice, a debut story collection set in Jamaica and America for readers of Zadie Smith, Helen Oyeyemi, and Imbolo Mbue.
"There is a way to be cruel that seems Jamaican to me.”
Tenderness and cruelty, loyalty and betrayal, ambition and regret—Alexia Arthurs navigates these tensions to extraordinary effect in her debut collection about Jamaican immigrants and their families back home. Sweeping from close-knit island communities to the streets of New York City and midwestern university towns, these eleven stories form a portrait of a nation, a people, and a way of life.
In "Light Skinned Girls and Kelly Rowlands,” an NYU student befriends a fellow Jamaican whose privileged West Coast upbringing has blinded her to the hard realities of race. In "Mash Up Love,” a twin’s chance sighting of his estranged brother—the prodigal son of the family—stirs up unresolved feelings of resentment.
In "Bad Behavior,” a mother and father leave their wild teenage daughter with her grandmother in Jamaica, hoping the old ways will straighten her out. In "Mermaid River,” a Jamaican teenage boy is reunited with his mother in New York after eight years apart. In "The Ghost of Jia Yi,” a recently murdered international student haunts a despairing Jamaican athlete recruited to an Iowa college. And in "Shirley from a Small Place,” a world-famous pop star retreats to her mother’s big new house in Jamaica, which still holds the power to restore something vital.
The winner of The Paris Review’s Plimpton Prize for "Bad Behavior,” Alexia Arthurs emerges in this vibrant, lyrical, intimate collection as one of fiction’s most dynamic and essential young authors.
ISBN:9781524799205
Author:Alexia Arthurs
Hold by Michael Donkor
Brief Summary
Moving between Ghana and London, Hold is an intimate, powerful coming-of-age novel. It’s a story of friendship and family, shame and forgiveness; of learning what we should cling to, and when we need to let go.
‘You have to imagine. That’s how I told myself.’
‘Imagine what?’
‘Imagine that you are the kind of girl that can cope with it, even if you are not.’
Belinda knows how to follow the rules. She has learnt the right way to polish water glasses, to wash and fold a hundred handkerchiefs, and to keep a tight lid on memories of the village she left behind when she came to Kumasi to be a housegirl.
Mary is still learning the rules. Eleven years old and irrepressible, the young housegirl-in-training is the little sister Belinda never had.
Amma has had enough of the rules. A straight-A pupil at her exclusive South-London school, she has always been the pride of her Ghanaian parents. Until now. Watching their once-confident teenager grow sullen and wayward, they decide that sensible Belinda might be just the shining example Amma needs.
So Belinda is summoned from Ghana to London, to befriend a troubled girl who shows no desire for her friendship. She encounters a city as bewildering as it is exciting, and as she tries to impose order on her unsettling new world, Belinda’s phonecalls back home to Mary become a lifeline.
As the Brixton summer turns to autumn, Belinda and Amma are surprised to discover the beginnings of an unexpected kinship. But when the cracks in their defences open up, the secrets they have both been holding tight to threaten to seep out…
ISBN:9780008280345
Author:Michael Donkor
A Change Is Gonna Come by Bello Mary
Brief Summary
WINNER OF THE YA BOOK PRIZE SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD 2018
Featuring top Young Adult authors and introducing a host of exciting new voices, this anthology of stories and poetry from BAME writers on the theme of change is a long-overdue addition to the YA scene.
Contributors include Tanya Byrne, Inua Ellams, Catherine Johnson, Patrice Lawrence, Ayisha Malik, Irfan Master, Musa Okwonga and Nikesh Shukla.
Plus introducing four fresh new voices in YA fiction: Mary Bello, Aisha Bushby, Yasmin Rahman and Phoebe Roy.
ISBN:9781847158390
Author:Bello Mary
The Pen and The Gun by Maina Wa Kinyatti
Brief Summary
The Pen and The Gun will make an excellent addition to the study of the struggle for democracy, the imposition of dictatorship and state terrorism in Kenya.
The book will also enrich Kenya's prison revolutionary literature and, at the same time, reveal the brutality of the Kenyan penal system.
Linked to all of the above, it will shed light on the broader role of African nationalism, Pan-Africanism and Marxism-Leninism-Maoism in the African social revolution. the role of the working class and its peasant ally in the liberation of Africa from world imperialism is clearly defined.
ISBN:9781453834411
Author:Maina Wa Kinyatti
At the Crossroads Readings of the Pos...
Brief Summary
Recent criticism on African literature and visual art, affected by contemporary global socio-economic and political influences, has been moving away from a singular focus on postcolonial theory towards notions of transnationalism.
There have been visible critical attempts that question the relevance of postcolonial critique, while various globally orientated critical approaches have emerged, complicating the notion of postcoloniality as we have known it.
This book consists of essays and articles that demonstrate this critical shift.
ISBN:9781592219636
Author:Ghirmai Negash, Andrea E Frohne and Samuel Zadi
The Search for Africa A History in th...
Brief Summary
These essays and articles, written between 1953 and 1993, explore the development of an African historiography and, in that context, the author's own development.
People who have been involved all their lives with Africa will be reminded of how many times Basil Davidson has given them new insights.
People who approach the study of Africa for the first time will find this collection opens out their perceptions.
ISBN:9780852557143
Author:Basil Davidson
The Power Of Babel Language and Gover...
Brief Summary
Noted Kenyan scholar, author, and educator Ali A. Mazrui, creator of the groundbreaking PBS series The Africans, teams up with his son Alamin to examine the complexities and contradictions of language and cultural identity on the African continent.
The Mazruis explore the challenges of native African languages surviving in countries where the political, economic, and technological discourses are conducted in Eurocentric languages such as English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese. "This linguistic state of affairs," they argue, has resulted from "the failure of African people to be nationalistic enough in linguistic terms." The Power of Babel recounts the history and impact of oral traditions, as well as the influence of Arabic, Christian, and Semitic-based growths in literacy and the imposition of the European concept of the nation-state.
The authors also detail the role African American and Afro-Saxon English speakers could play in "African counter-penetration," using English to better educate the West about Africa. This timely and important treatise also finds room to incorporate discussion of such wide-ranging subject matters as James Baldwin, Frantz Fanon, and the rise of Ebonics. --Eugene Holley Jr.
ISBN:9780852558089
Author:Ali A Mazrui and Alamin Mazrui
Thabo Mbeki and the Battle for the So...
Brief Summary
Thabo Mbeki plays a crucial role in world politics, but to many people he is an enigma. In this book Gumede pulls together his insights from years of reporting on the Mbeki presidency to create a sophisticated but easy-to-read account of power in South Africa.
He explores the complex position that Mbeki occupies and reveals the underlying political and personal tensions that help explain the forces that have created one of the world's most powerful and enigmatic leaders.
Covering Mbeki's attempts to modernize the economy and kick-start an African Renaissance, and investigating his controversial stance on issues from AIDS to Zimbabwe, the book offers invaluable insights into the arcane machinations behind political decisions that touch the lives of millions every day.
ISBN:9781842778487
Author:William Mervin Gumede
Crucible of the Ages Essays in Honour...
Brief Summary
Essays In Honour of Wole Soyinka at 80, edited by two award-winning African writers is a celebration of the literary life of Wole Soyinka at an important stage in his life.
The volume provides the most extensive anthology ever produced on Africa's first Nobel Laureate in Literature and features 30 essays with a foreword by the former secretary general of the Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku. With contributions from three Nobel Laureates: Toni Morrison, Nadine Gordimer and Derek Walcott and other contributions from African leaders, scholars, writers and literary critics from around the world, they assess Soyinka's perspectives on power, politics and the arts to create dialogue and debate.
Diverse aspects of his life are reflected in six themes in this volume that also documents the literary and cultural histories of West Africa from the 1950s to the present day.
The Kenyan writer Ngugi wa Thiong'o describes Soyinka as: " A writer and public intellectual, who has voiced his concerns over major happenings in different parts of the continent over the last fifty years and more, Soyinka has become the moral and democratic conscience of Africa."
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ISBN:9780956930798
Author:Ivor Agyeman Duah, Promise Ogochukwu Okekwe and Ayebia Clarke
Regional Integration Identity and Cit...
Brief Summary
The Greater Horn of Africa (GHA) is engulfed by three interrelated crises: various inter-state wars, civil wars, and inter-communal conflicts; an economic crisis manifested in widespread debilitating poverty, chronic food insecurity and famines; and environmental degradation that is ravaging the region.
While it is apparent that the countries of the region are unlikely to be able to deal with the crises individually, there is consensus that their chances of doing so improve markedly with collective regional action. The contributors to this volume address the need for regional integration in the GHA.
They identify those factors that can foster integration, such as the proper management of equitable citizenship rights, as well as examining those that impede it, including the region's largely ineffective integration scheme, IGAD, and explore how the former can be strengthened and the latter transformed; explain how regional integration can mitigate the conflicts; and examine how integration can help to energise the region's economy.
Kidane Mengisteab is Professor of African Studies and Political Science at Penn State University; Redie Bereketeab is a researcher at the Nordic Africa Institute, Sweden.
ISBN:9781847010582
Author:Kidane Mengisteab
Cooking with an African flavour Sapra...
Kamba customary law by D J Penwill
Gardening in Eastern Africa by Kenya ...
This is a practical guide book to gardening in the Eastern Africa region.
This practical guide to gardening in Eastern African region covers topics ranging from growing fruit and vegetables (including many local species) and gardening with indigenous plants, to ideas for designing your garden, and what to grow if you live in an apartment.
It contains many drawings and diagrams as well as nearly one thousand full color photographs.
Abyssinian Nomad by Maskarm Haile
Brief Summary
Abyssinian Nomad: An African woman's journey of love, loss, and adventure from Cape to Cairo
What does it take to know oneself? To fully realize one's life dream? For some it may take a lifetime, and for others, the chance may never come. There are those who dream and have the courage to take the first steps past the threshold of familiarity.
Their stories, like mine, are etched on the avenues we dare to traverse. The Cape to Cairo road is where I, a black female soul-searcher, faced my greatest trial in confronting my fear of losing my mother to cancer, trying to keep old love alive, and make my childhood dream come true.
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ISBN:9781775175704
Author:Maskarm Haile
This Mournable Body by Tsitsi Dangare...
A searing novel about the obstacles facing women in Zimbabwe, by one of the country’s most notable authors
Anxious about her prospects after leaving a stagnant job, Tambudzai finds herself living in a run-down youth hostel in downtown Harare.
For reasons that include her grim financial prospects and her age, she moves to a widow’s boarding house and eventually finds work as a biology teacher. But at every turn in her attempt to make a life for herself, she is faced with a fresh humiliation, until the painful contrast between the future she imagined and her daily reality ultimately drives her to a breaking point.
In This Mournable Body, Tsitsi Dangarembga returns to the protagonist of her acclaimed first novel, Nervous Conditions, to examine how the hope and potential of a young girl and a fledgling nation can sour over time and become a bitter and floundering struggle for survival.
As a last resort, Tambudzai takes an ecotourism job that forces her to return to her parents’ impoverished homestead. It is this homecoming, in Dangarembga’s tense and psychologically charged novel, that culminates in an act of betrayal, revealing just how toxic the combination of colonialism and capitalism can be.
Scribble Yourself Feminist by Chidera...
Brief Summary
This is the dream journal for every feminist babe out there!
This book is dedicated to the woman who wants a better world.
The woman who's a lover, a learner but most importantly, a leader.
Finally, here's your chance to scribble yourself feminist with this AMAZING journal, designed to empower, inspire and entertain.
From Chidera Eggerue, the woman behind The Slumflower and #saggyboobsmatter, and illustrated by Manjit Thapp, it's BEAUTIFUL, FUNNY, and FEMINIST.
What's included in this BRILLIANT journal??
ALL THIS:
• Colouring pages featuring Manjit's beautiful illustrations of inspirational quotes and feminist heroines from around the world.
• Witty comebacks for everyday sexism- 'cos the world needs to hear your sass!
• Design your feminist wardrobe- design your outfit for the next march; t shirts, badges, sashes and power panties you can make as fabulous as you are.
• Make your own 'Galentine's Day' card for the ladies you love
• Rewrite your favourite FEMI-CLASSICS- why can't the girl save the day for once??
• Create your own FEMINIST HALL OF FAME: draw your feminist heroes- imagine if every gallery had a feminist babes wing!
ISBN:9780241347737
Author:Chidera Eggerue