Everyone expects us to fail, and to succeed is to be the exception. The space between renders us unremarkable.
Contemporary
Friendship, Womanhood, and Identity in Nikki May’s WAHALA
In its tale of these three women, Wahala is a riveting exploration of friendship, belonging, and identity that will have you drinking from its palm until the very last page.
5 Fun Facts with Lizzie Damilola Blackburn
From the blog post that inspired her to Yinka’s abiding love for her local chicken shop, Lizzie Damilola Blackburn gives us five fun facts about one of the first Black British romantic comedies.
“I wanted to write about how black societies could evolve without white hegemony”: A conversation with Okezie Nwọka
Okezie Nwọka on what and who inspired God of Mercy, the difficulties of duality, and adapting Igbo language and culture for the foreign page.
How Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi’s great Ugandan novel shows us other ways of knowing
It may surprise a few to know that Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi's debut, a now-established classic of African literature, was rejected by British publishers for being ‘too African’.
My Darling from the Lions by Rachel Long: A Critical Summary
My Darling from the Lions is a remarkable debut collection with plenty to say and the ability to say it in a unique, witty, and fresh manner.
“I needed to write a book that reflected reality”: A conversation with Lọlá Ákínmádé Åkerström
Lola Ákínmádé Åkerström talks freely about how In Every Mirror She’s Black upends mainstream ideas about Nordic society, her difficult journey to publication, and writing Black women.
“This book was the way to offer a kind of solidarity”: A conversation with Emmanuel Iduma
A Stranger's Pose is a dreamy travelogue and memoir through west and north Africa that explores the nature of estrangement, identity, and grief.
To love is to see, and to be loved is to be seen: Love in Colour by Bolu Babalola
Love in Colour challenges you to be loved loudly and unashamedly. Bolu Babalola wants readers to know that to love is to see and to be loved is to be seen.
In Every Mirror She’s Black is the perfect read
Solitude is the real story of In Every Mirror She’s Black, a unique distillation of commercial and literary fiction that ultimately hits like a tragedy.
Travelling While Black: Opening readers’ eyes to a unique conversation on what it means to travel in this disoriented world
An insightful read for the average traveller who wants a broader perspective on what it’s like to travel in a world that privileges some but restricts many others from moving around.
Shadow Forward: A Review of My Monticello
Who and what are we the product of, and what is the future of this current birthing? I want us to exercise patience as we wait for the arrival of answers.
“I want the book to create space, especially psychic space in our imaginations”: A conversation with Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah
Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah gives us her perspective on The Sex Lives of African Women's genesis, ethos, and her best book recommendations.
How Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah’s The Sex Lives of African Women will set you free
The Sex Lives of African Women is a safe space: it is pure, unadulterated freedom, somehow magically distilled and transformed into a 304-page book.
Accra Noir: Crime in a city of stories, legends, and allegories
Edited by Nana-Ama Danquah, Accra Noir's writers spin a complex and fantastical web of love, intrigue, drama, and crime.
Prolific romance author Alyssa Cole delivers a chilling thriller about gentrification
When No One is Watching is strongest once readers understand they're being asphyxiated in the protagonist's psyche as forcefully as Black residents are being plucked out of Gifford Place.
Addis Ababa Noir: A dark, gritty collection of short stories set in the shadow of the city
These stories draw you to the side of a city that is filled with greed, power, death, and despair.