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Books & arts
RSS FeedAngola wins, but German magazine wonders: Where is Angola?
Safia Dickersbach
2013-06-12, Issue 634
It would be very interesting to find out which hidden agendas "ART" is pursuing with its lopsided coverage of Angola's success in Venice
Adichie’s Americadabra
Biko Agozino
2013-06-06, Issue 633
Adichie appears to be trying to demonstrate that all novels are full of lies but that readers prefer delightful lies to inconvenient truths. That is why novels sell millions of copies while boring scholarly tomes manage a few hundred copies in sales
'Today na today'
Biko Agozino sings from abroad in Naija creole
Emmanuel Boyinta
2013-05-30, Issue 632
With the release of his latest poetry book, entitled ‘Today na Today’, an anthology of poems written in Naija langwej (pidgin English), a waning subsector of Nigerian literature gains a vent
‘The post-colonial state in Africa’
Okello Oculi
2013-05-30, Issue 632
Crawford Young succeeds brilliantly and seductively in inciting a yearning for “another history” of governance in Africa in the last 50 years
Ken Harrow’s ‘Trash: Garbage In Garbage Out’
'If you consider your friend to be an animal he considers you to be shit' (Tshi proverb, Ghana).
Biko Agozino
2013-05-16, Issue 630
‘His detailed plot summaries of the movies in the book are so well written that readers may no longer need to see the films after reading his book’
Where is homeland?
Nick Edgeworth
2013-04-25, Issue 627
The collection of poems tells a story on many levels. It is an autobiographical account of a black child growing up within the private fostering system. But the story extends back to the lives of the poet’s African grandparents and outwards to the experiences of other immigrants to the UK
When artists die...
Okachikwu Dibia
2013-04-18, Issue 626
Upon the death of an artist society loses sorely. But their works provide a continuing reflection on how to refine ourselves
My Husband is a Cuckoo
Review of ‘My Husband is a Cuckoo and Other Poems of My Youth’ by Esther Lamnyam. Createspace Independent Publishing, 2012, 76 pp. Paperback, $15.00. ISBN 147762340X
Peter Wuteh Vakunta
2013-04-18, Issue 626
Lamnyam’s book of poems is a tribute to penmanship. She contends that poets are not dead wood, and attributes much leverage to the weight of her pen
Review of Biko Agozino’s ‘Today na Today’
Noel A. Ihebuzor
2013-04-18, Issue 626
The poems treat a broad range of contemporary social issues in Nigeria. The author has certainly enriched the literary world
Fictionalizing Camfranglais
A Review of Moi Taximan by Gabriel Kuitche Fonkou
Peter Wuteh Vakunta
2013-03-13, Issue 621
This book is highly recommended to people who know nothing about Camfranglais and who wish to one day visit Cameroon. It really is a must read.
African-Caribbean Communist defied racism, sexism and class oppression
Review of ‘Claudia Jones: Beyond Containment’ (2011), edited by Carole Boyce Davies, Ayebia Clarke Publishing (241 pages)
Abayomi Azikiwe
2013-02-06, Issue 615
This book makes a tremendous contribution to the literature on left, feminist and Pan-African struggles during the 20th century
Africa and the drug problem
Review of ‘Africa and the War on Drugs’ by Neil Carrier and Gernot Klantschnig/, (London: Zed Books 2012)
Lansana Gberie
2013-02-06, Issue 615
The undoubted merit of this book is in its providing of historical depth to understanding the drug menace. But readers should beware of the danger of substituting one’s irritation with some of the awkward policies of western governments with concern for the African predicament.
What is Haiti to me?
Ama Biney
2013-01-17, Issue 613
The heartbeat of Africa cloned to the Caribbean; A nation of defiant and valiant freedom fighters who dared to rise up Against the French, Spanish and British colonial overlords against the chains of slavery; Who desired freedom and were prepared to wage a 13-year-long guerrilla war against European overlords who did not believe in ‘liberté, fraternité, equalité’ for blacks; A nation of half a million Africans who cherished their African-ness in the Vodun religion Against the caricatures and demonization of this religion by Hollywood; A people who believed their freedom was worth paying the French 150 million francs – Yet were to be squeezed and punished in other ways by American occupation And deathly neo-liberalism that fails to trickle down growth; A people who know the meaning of struggle, pain, suffering, tragedy – But remain in spite of hurricanes and tornadoes that cannot quench their spirits and hopes for a dignified life A people who profoundly know the meaning of dictatorship lived during the Duvalier era That ‘disappeared’ thousands, killed many who spoke out against kleptocracy, corruption, and inequality; A people who know the meaning of neo-colonialism; that house negroes remain in the land; A people who know that uncle toms and aunt jemimas are a powerful minority in collusion With Uncle Sam wearing a black face and their neo-colonial brothers and sisters across in the neo-colonial Dominican Republic; A people who know that colorism remains in the land and the ruling elite are not safe Under a genuine democracy but with their US supplied automatic rifles The presence of the Tonton Macoutes that they support and the various military attachés Uncle Sam funds to allow the rich to sleep easily at night; It is a people who have recovered their agency and voted for a radical priest in two genuine elections Only for the US and their detractors to deny this electoral victory on account that they did not like what the radical priest represented; It is the masses who see the rich minority seated at a ‘vast table covered with white damask and overflowing with good food’ whilst the people are ‘hunched over in the dirt and starving’ [1] – waiting once more to knock down that table and construct a new one in which all will equitably eat. ENDNOTE 1. Words of former President Jean Bertrand Aristide.
A real life Django
Margaret Kimberley
2013-01-17, Issue 613
Audiences cheering the exploits of the Django fictional character do so in part because they mistakenly believe that this work of fiction has no historical basis in it at all
Démissionnez! A call for President Biya to step down
A review of Lapiro’s latest musical composition
Peter Wuteh Vakunta
2013-01-09, Issue 612
There is no question that the new song is a rap on the face of President Biya by a valiant dissident musician who views the Cameroonian leader as undeserving of the public office he holds
Mugabe: Villain or Hero?
Ama Biney
2012-12-20, Issue 611
This new film exposes the truth behind President Robert Mugabe’s troubles with the West. But it lacks the nuances, complexities and critical questions (other than ‘the land question’) that are key to understanding Mugabe’s legacy
A child’s life for €375: My life has a price
Fahmida Khan
2012-12-13, Issue 610
In the raw testimony of her torture and abuse, Tina Okpara paints an unforgettable portrait of a child determined for a better life. This powerful memoir will force any parent to think twice before disposing of essential responsibilities for their child.
Dust, spittle and wind
Sonwabiso Ngcowa
2012-12-13, Issue 610
In Sanya Osha’s suspense-filled novel, society is on the verge of irreparable breakdown but manages somehow to pull itself back up from the abyss
'Restless City' wins at Colours of the Nile International Film Festival
Kevin Kriedemann
2012-11-21, Issue 607
While the films dealt with diverse subject matter, the jury was struck by a common thread – that of the displacement involved in migrant and immigrant lifestyles.
A retort to white racists
Review of Wole Soyinka’s ‘Of Africa’
Biko Agozino
2012-11-15, Issue 606
Soyinka presents ‘Of Africa’ as a long overdue retort to a white supremacist who had challenged him in Germany to admit that Africans are inferior, otherwise Europeans and Arabs could not have enslaved and colonised them for centuries.
Uncommon diplomat: Peter Penfold and Sierra Leone
A review of ‘Atrocities, Diamonds and Diplomacy: The Inside Story of the Conflict in Sierra Leone’ by Peter Penfold. Published by Pen and Sword, UK 2012
Lansana Gberie
2012-11-15, Issue 606
This ‘superbly well-written, well-documented and passionate book’ reveals tragic failures of the international community in tackling the civil war in Sierra Leone.
Colours of the Nile film festival to feature the best
2012-10-30, Issue 604
The inaugural Colours of the Nile International Film Festival (CNIFF) will run in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 7-11 November 2012, introducing the best of African cinema to African audiences.
Biafra: A lesson not learned
Reflections on ‘There Was A Country: A Personal History of Biafra’ by Chinua Achebe, Allen Lane, 333 pp.
Tarila Marclint Ebiede
2012-10-31, Issue 604
Achebe’s new memoirs should be a source of inspiration and an advocacy guide for those calling for a new Nigeria that confronts the mistakes of its past; a Nigeria where members of the different nations have an equal place no matter their size.
We’re all social democrats now
A review of ‘My First Coup d’ Etat: Memories from the Lost Decade of Africa’ by John Dramani Mahama; Bloomsbury, 2012, pp 318, £14.99.
Napoleon Abdulai
2012-10-24, Issue 603
Ghana’s new president has surprisingly found the time to pen his memoirs, which trace his eventful journey to the highest office of his country.
‘Dear Mandela’: The struggle of shack dwellers
Susan Majek
2012-10-10, Issue 601
South African producers Dara Kell and Christopher Nizza made the award-winning documentary ‘Dear Mandela’ to inform the world about the struggles of shack dwellers. Here Dara speaks about the film and continued suffering of slum dwellers in post-apartheid South Africa.
Chinua Achebe: A man and his people
Dust raised by war memoirs will not settle soon
Abdulrazaq Magaji
2012-10-10, Issue 601
In rehashing well-known but better forgotten facts to whip up sentiments, Achebe runs the risk of stoking the fires of antagonism among Nigerians. It is a controversy he can ill-afford given his age and fame.
Crossing borders in search of a better life
A review of ‘The Outsiders’ by Caroline Adhiambo Jakob. Authors House, 2012.
Sokari Ekine
2012-10-03, Issue 600
The new novel follows the lives of two women, a German executive and a Kenyan victim of sexual abuse living in poverty on the streets of Nairobi who decides to escape to Europe as an illegal immigrant.
The need for diversity and transformation of legal systems
Arnold Minors
2012-10-03, Issue 600
This book exposes the reality that the legal system is not intended to produce justice, except by accident, and then largely to the benefit of the agents of the system and to rich and powerful users of that system.
From the outside looking in
An unconventional review for an eccentric book
Nicholas Kariuki Githuku
2012-09-19, Issue 598
Miguna succeeds in peeling back the mask of his former boss Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga and several other high-ranking actors in the national political drama. But Miguna also hides his own failings behind the mask of many words.
Taking civilization to the whiteman’s land
A review of ‘Love under the Kola-Nut Tree’ by Esther Lamnyam, Author House, 2009, 279 pp. Paperback $19. 95. ISBN 978-1-4392-1823-5
Peter Wuteh Vakunta
2012-09-20, Issue 598
This is a revolutionary novel in several respects but what captures the reader’s attention from the onset is how the author turns the tables by portraying an African woman as the herald of civilization to the benighted West.
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