Posts featuring Lola Shoneyin

Weekly Dispatches From the Frontlines of World Literature

July 19, 2024 | in Dispatches, News, Weekly Roundup | by Charlie Ng and Wambua Muindi

Literary updates from Kenya and Hong Kong!

This week, our editors-at-large take us around the world for the latest in festivals, book launches, and fairs! From Nairobi’s latest litfest, to a poignant memoir, to the interplay of film and literature in Hong Kong, read on to learn more!

Wambua Muindi, Editor-at-Large, Reporting from Kenya

This year’s NBO Litfest, a collaboration between Book Bunk and the international Hay Festival, was held 27–30 June across three public libraries in Nairobi (McMillan Memorial Library, Eastlands Library, and Kaloleni Library). Nothing short of a treat to literature enthusiasts, the festival was headlined by Booker Prize winner Bernardine Evaristo, Stanley Gazemba, Lola Shoneyin, Taiye Selasi, Amitav Ghosh, and Djamila Ribeiro, among others. The festival’s first day was children-focused with incredible storytelling by Grace Wangari and Orpah Agunda, followed by a lineup of events over the weekend. As it happened against the backdrop of primarily youth-led protests against the 2024 Finance Bill, which by now have mutated to Kenya’s anti-government protests, the festival issued a statement in solidarity with the young people of Kenya.

Weekly Dispatches from the Frontlines of World Literature

November 2, 2018 | in Dispatches, News | by Norman Erikson Pasaribu and Olufunke Ogundimu

This week, our Editors-At-Large from Nigeria and Indonesia tell us more about the latest in literary news.

Join our Editors-at-Large as they reflect on this week’s most important literary news—and look ahead to exciting upcoming events! From Nigeria, Olufunke Ogundimu reports on festivals in Lagos and beyond. Norman Erikson Pasaribu, writing from Indonesia, discusses a renowned Toba Batak author and a promising young translator.

Olufunke Ogundimu, Editor-At-Large, reporting from Nigeria:

Autumn is the season of literary festivals in Nigeria, beginning in September with the Kaduna Book and Arts Festival, which aims to celebrate and increase access to arts and literature in northern Nigeria. October ushers in the Aké Arts and Book Festival and the Lagos International Poetry Festival, and the season ends in November with the Lagos Book and Arts Festival.

The theme of this year’s Aké Arts and Book Festival was “Fantastical Futures.” From October 25-28, visitors attended events, exhibitions, and conversations that focused largely on a re-imagined African future. The first two days of the festival were devoted to Project Inspire, an initiative that involved featured authors visiting schools to read to pupils and talk to them about books, reading, and careers in writing. The festival also hosted two panels in Yoruba and Igbo languages for the first time; in the past, panels were held in English only. The “Divinity and Spirituality in Igbo Tradition” panel discussed the demonization and criminalization of traditional practices in Igboland, while the Yoruba panel focused on “Entertainment, Education and Technology in the Mother Tongue.”