Books

Hi there, I’m Nesa. If you haven’t read the previous episodes, I advise you to stop reading. Go back, read them, and then come back. Don’t worry; I’ll be right here waiting for you. And if you’ve already read the previous episodes, buckle up, and let’s continue our journey. I would not call myself a DADA BEE (a Ghanaian colloquialism). …

Wole Soyinka, the literary giant and human rights icon, turns 90 on 13 July. Considering the gamut of his creative work as a dramatist, poet, novelist, essayist, memoirist and wordsmith, the emeritus professor of comparative literature could arguably be described as Africa’s greatest man of letters ever. In 1986, Soyinka became the first African to receive the Nobel Prize in …

At the heart of Wole Soyinka’s whole corpus of work is man, mankind with all his intelligence and stupidity, writes Atim Ani*. The Nobel laureate pictures man, an African, in his constant struggle of adjustment to his changing environment, she posits in this essay on the significance of Soyinka’s body of work. Wole Soyinka won the Nobel Prize for Literature …

For a continent whose merits have been overshadowed by wars, natural disasters, poverty and human displacements, the Nobel Prize for literature awarded to the Nigerian Wole Soyinka in 1986 must have come as a shock to those audiences with little knowledge of the presence of a wealth of contemporary African literatures. This shock could only be the result of years …

Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka turns 90 on 13 July. Femi Awoniyi and Michael Nnaji look at the life of the literary giant as a political and rights activist in the service of humanity. Born Oluwole Akinwande Soyinka on 13 July 1934 in Abeokuta, south-western Nigeria, this truly great man of many parts is often wrongly reduced to the Nobel Prize …

Hi again, Nesa here. Welcome back to the second episode of my journey. Today, we dive into my experience relocating from Ghana to Germany, a journey that redefined my path and taught me invaluable lessons about resilience, starting afresh, and seizing opportunities. To be honest, I never imagined I would settle in Germany. Born here but raised in Ghana, I …

The Africa Centre London has rolled out an elaborate programme to celebrate the life of Wole Soyinka, the first African Nobel laureate in Literature (1986), to mark the Nigerian writer’s 90th birthday. From Friday, July 19 to Saturday, July 27, The Africa Centre will come alive with exhibitions, roundtables, film screenings, live music performances and poetry recitals to celebrate the …

In her new short autobiographic book, Cologne-based legal scholar and creative author Nesa narrates her story, of an African girl who was born in Germany but raised in the continent and now lives in the country of her birth. This is the first episode of Nesa’s chronicle Hi, I’m Nesa, and over the next ten weeks, I’ll be taking you …

Dr Priscillia M. Manjoh, a Berlin-based author, has been bestowed with “The Mount Cameroon Literary Grand Prize 2023”. The Cameroon-born novelist impressed the jury with her novel Angri leading to her being chosen among the 40 nominees for the prestigious award. The national prize, under the patronage of the Association of Cameroonian Poets and Writers, was launched in 2022 and …

The book Confidence in Diplomacy – Defending Nigeria at Home and Abroad is an account of the author’s nearly 30 years of service in Nigerian diplomacy. It’s a journey that began in 1982 when Alhaji Abdul Rimdap joined the foreign affairs ministry and ended in 2010 when he retired while serving the country as ambassador to Germany. His distinguished international …

Starting in 2024, the international literature festival berlin will collaborate with a Curator in Residence. He or she will be responsible for events and invitations and will work together with the festival director and the team to develop a guiding theme for the ilb. Additionally, they will be present in Berlin during the festival. An internationally composed selection committee has …

InterKontinental Verlag has been honoured with the 2023 Berlin Publishing Award (Berliner Verlagspreis). The publishing company is a subsidiary of InterKontinental, the Berlin-based literary agency and association for the promotion of African and Afro-diasporic literature. The Berlin Publishing Prize 2023 was presented to InterKontinental Verlag as well as two others, Edition Tiamat and Lukas Verlag, on 5 November during a …

School teacher Christine List writes on her experience taking her pupils to the African past in a literature class. The high school students read Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart for the project. List narrates her pupils’ mixed impressions of the literary voyage It had been four weeks since the students have been studying Africa in their geography project. During the …

Anteneh Defabachew came to Germany as a refugee from Ethiopia. Today, he has become a star cook, working for one of the prestigeous hotels in Germany. His autobiography of how he overcame his humble beginnings to achieving fame in Germany was launched recently in Nuremberg. Here’s a report of the event by Netsi Berhane Anteneh Defabachew displays his book/Photo: Anteneh …

Tip No. 2BE YOU! YOU are one-of-a-kind. YOU are the most amazing invention of all inventions. In a world where the only constant thing is change, YOU are the only thing that remains unchanged. As for your DNA, the hereditary material that is peculiar to each person and each person alone? Even that is unique. Not even the mother who …

Introduction:Living authentically is the most significant value we can add to our lives. It is akin to celebrating Christmas, or any of your other favourite holidays, every day, complete with a one-of-a-kind, lovingly wrapped present.But authenticity takes courage: the courage to be unapologetically YOU. The 12 Tips in Who are you, if you are not YOU? (If you are an …

African Media Agency today (22 June) announced its creative writing masterclass hosted in partnership with Chigozie Obioma as part of AMA Academy. The partnership aims to upskill journalists on fiction storytelling.  AMA Academy is a free-to-use pan-African online learning platform dedicated to upskilling journalists and media personnel across the continent. The first cohort boasts 200 journalists and has hosted three …

We begin today the serialisation of Vienna, Austria-based writer Sarah Udoh-Grossfurthner’s new book Who are you, if you are not YOU? Over the next 12 weeks, we will publish extracts from the book, her 12 tips on how to become the best version of you. Sarah introduces her book: Sarah Udoh-Grossfurthner, who lives in Vienna, is a writer of thought-provoking …

Award-winning Ugandan author Kakwenza Rukirabashaija, who fled the country after being charged with insulting President Yoweri Museveni, has arrived in Germany to seek medical treatment after being “tortured” in jail, his lawyer said Wednesday. Rukirabashaija’s lawyer, Eron Kiiza, confirmed his client’s arrival in Germany on Wednesday, describing the news as “a big relief”. The Ugandan writer’s arrival was also welcomed …

Cologne-based journalist and contributing editor to The African Courier, Tina Adomako, reviews Lagos – Life in Suburbia. She describes the experience of reading the novel, originally published in 2019 but whose German translation came out just last December, as akin to watching a Nollywood soap opera —– Ajayi Crowther Street in Lagos is home to the established middle class. This …