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How Keen Are African Novelists on Sex?
Chimamanda Adichie has often told the story of the Lagos dentist who chided her for writing about sex in Half of a Yellow Sun. Here is how she puts it in a recent interview: ”This woman wrote me a...
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“Because There Are No Words”: Noviolet Bulawayo on Her Father’s Silence About...
I always wondered what my pops, who is 74, thought about my writing coz we’ve never addressed it like that. I mean we talk on the phone and trip and laugh and gossip and I get schooled and scolded if...
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The Saga Continues: Maja-Pearce Speaks Out On His Quarrel With Soyinka
The most recent episode in what seems like an old quarrel between Wole Soyinka and Adewale Maja-Pearce began with Soyinka’s infamous Sahara Reporters interview. We have always known that Soyinka is...
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Letter From An Editor To An Author: Books Don’t Sell On Merit Alone
No matter how great a novel is, it will not sell itself. It needs to be peddled! But authors cannot rely on publishers to do all the work of getting the word out and getting the work into the reader’s...
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Sex in African Novels Pt. 1: “Please, Ona, Don’t Wake the Whole Household.”
The excerpt you about to read is from Buchi Emecheta’s 1980 novel Joys of Motherhood. It’s the debut post in a new Brittle Paper series called “Sex in African Novels.” Enjoy! Agbadi had slept so much...
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#AfricanLitNotes: Chimamanda On What To Read When You Write
John Williams: You teach writing in your home country. What are two or three principles you think it’s important to instill in young writers? Chimamanda Adichie: This is what I tell my students:...
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It’s All Poetry and Pretty Sentences Inside Ben Okri’s Head
What do authors think about when they read their own novels? Follow me inside Ben Okri’s head and see for yourself. On a copy of The Famished Road recently donated to English Pen, Okri left revealing...
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Film Adaptation of Soyinka’s Memoir Set For Release Next Year
Soyinka’s 1989 memoir, Ake: The Years of Childhood, is being adapted for film. Release date is July 13, 2014. Check out soyinkasakefilm.com to learn more about the project. The film adaptation will be...
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Writer on Writer: Habila Criticizes Bulawayo’s We Need New Names
If I had to imagine the writing process of many African writers, it would look like this: they draw up a list of hot-button issues on Africa: failing economes, brain drain, ailing health care, corrupt...
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African Science Fiction Makes a Comeback: A Review of AfroSF
By Matthew Omelsky Has African science fiction only recently come into existence? Or are we only now beginning to pay attention to it? These questions are complicated for a few reasons. For one, there...
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BRITTLE PAPER POET: “Prison Notes” by Anefiok Akpan
The path of the eyesight narrows to a standstill, Crawling moonlights perched on the concrete floor— Memories poured through the lone empty night, Steadily, the mind crustily kneeled in the lying...
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VIDEO: Igoni Barrett — “You’ll Never Write Anything of the Least Importance...
Nigeria’s Igoni Barrett, author of Love is Power, or Something Like That, reads a sad little story titled “You” at the Pen America African Writer’s Workshop.
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5 Reasons Why Taiye Selasie is The Sexiest African Female Novelist
Source: globeandmail.com Taiye Selasi was born to a Nigerian father and a Ghanaian mother in London and was raised in Boston. She is a successful novelist, a brilliant writer, and a fashionista. In...
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Lauren Beukes — The Women in My Novel “Aren’t Nameless, Silent Corpses”
From the beginning, I didn’t want to elevate Harper to a slick, sophisticated, Hannibal Lecter-esque serial murderer. I wanted Harper to be more vile and awful, a cringing hyena rather than...
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“Comrade Dracula Joins the Revolution: A Wedding of Minds” by Dambudzo Marechera
For something to do let’s forever walk this Circle they call marriage (forever presumes neither Beginning nor end) The rigmarole of vows is over. Remember god allows himself the freedom to be the...
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The Magical Science of Fiction: A Review of Lauren Beukes’ Zoo City
Zoo City is not science fiction in the classic sense. There are no flying saucers, sexy body suits, slimy aliens, or sterilized outer space stations. There is witchcraft, 419, drugs, and genetic...
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Why Tope Folarin Is A Surprising But Perfect Pick For The Caine Prize
Caine Prize Shortlistees in London for the award. Left to Right: Elnathan John, Abubakar Ibrahim, Chinelo Okparanta, Tope Folarin, Pede Hollist. I was doing some blog work late last night and hanging...
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Waiting For An African Literary Revolution
Adichie’s Americanah, Selasie’s Ghana Must Go, and Bulawayo’s We Need New Names are being hailed as the African novels that best capture the Africa of our time. It is around these novels that the...
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African Literary Feud | Adichie: The Best African Fiction Is in My Mailbox |...
Chimamanda Adichie is officially Africa’s literary queen of controversy. Remember her well-publicized beef against African women who relaxe their hair or carry straight weaves? This time, she has...
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BRITTLE PAPER STORYTELLER: “Fool” By Obinna Udenwe
It has been going on for months. Two months you think. That is how long you have been sleeping with the woman next door. Her husband lives in Tunisia. He rarely visits unless during festivities. So...
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