Africa Writes
14 Sep 2014 8:36 PM GMT
Africa Writes, the title itself opens up debate but I believe Africa has always told stories and will continue to write and if its writers use English as one of their mediums they will take hold of the language, mould, mend and create it to carry stories forward bringing Africa’s inherent nature, its peoples’ joys, trials, tribulations and journeys within Africa and the World.
‘Africa Writes’ is the title of the Royal Africa Society’s annual literature festival in London in partnership with the British Library. Established and emerging talent from the African continent and its diaspora were showcased as a celebration of contemporary African writing with lively debates as what constitutes today’s Africa emerged. In one session a PhD student in London challenged one of the writers that we must stop portraying Africa and its writers as being hungry, impoverished, and perhaps challenged the aim and motive of its stories.
Events included Africa in translation titled Poetry in (E)motion, the Caine prize in conversation with shortlisted authors Diane Awerbuck, Billy Kahora, Tendai Huchu and Okwiri Oduor, an audience with Ama Ata Aidoo, the Ghanaian author and former Minister of Education, a discussion on Chinua Achebe titled Tributes and Reflections, led by the publisher Nana Ayebia Clarke, a sharing of Yoruba tales led by the writer Ade Solenka and ending with the event Afro-Futures, Sci-fi and Technology.
Is it African psychology or the stamp of approval from Oxford or London that determines the fate of an African writer? Perhaps some may argue that Africans or their diaspora themselves do not read as voraciously as their white English counterparts. However as long as African writers believe in their narratives, they will find readers whomsoever and wherever they come from, and prizes would emerge from within Africa and the World based on merit and irrespective of the politics.
African writers will share memory through a blend of fact and fiction, and some infusing story with fantasy like Ben Okri’s novel The Famished Road with a beautiful opening to the novel as a young boy opens the door and walks out into the World. African writing goes beyond Mandela, the Killing
Fields, the Congo River, explorers of the Nile, poverty and the safari and yet includes all this and more, as we look forward to Africa’s future narratives.
‘Africa Writes’ is the title of the Royal Africa Society’s annual literature festival in London in partnership with the British Library. Established and emerging talent from the African continent and its diaspora were showcased as a celebration of contemporary African writing with lively debates as what constitutes today’s Africa emerged. In one session a PhD student in London challenged one of the writers that we must stop portraying Africa and its writers as being hungry, impoverished, and perhaps challenged the aim and motive of its stories.
Events included Africa in translation titled Poetry in (E)motion, the Caine prize in conversation with shortlisted authors Diane Awerbuck, Billy Kahora, Tendai Huchu and Okwiri Oduor, an audience with Ama Ata Aidoo, the Ghanaian author and former Minister of Education, a discussion on Chinua Achebe titled Tributes and Reflections, led by the publisher Nana Ayebia Clarke, a sharing of Yoruba tales led by the writer Ade Solenka and ending with the event Afro-Futures, Sci-fi and Technology.
Is it African psychology or the stamp of approval from Oxford or London that determines the fate of an African writer? Perhaps some may argue that Africans or their diaspora themselves do not read as voraciously as their white English counterparts. However as long as African writers believe in their narratives, they will find readers whomsoever and wherever they come from, and prizes would emerge from within Africa and the World based on merit and irrespective of the politics.
African writers will share memory through a blend of fact and fiction, and some infusing story with fantasy like Ben Okri’s novel The Famished Road with a beautiful opening to the novel as a young boy opens the door and walks out into the World. African writing goes beyond Mandela, the Killing
Fields, the Congo River, explorers of the Nile, poverty and the safari and yet includes all this and more, as we look forward to Africa’s future narratives.
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