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Greatest AfricansAfricaJoburgSouth AfricaGreatest AfricansThere has in recent times been a steep rise of nationalism that has permeated the world. The divorce of Britain from the European Union is one manifestation of this. The rise of Boris Johnson and his populist right-wing politics is a further exemplar of this. In the United States, Trump and his politics are what can be termed as extrem...
The River Between is a novel by Kenyan author Ngugi wa Thiong’o and was published in 1965 as part of the African Writers Series which included other influential African authors. It is of a story set in Kenya at the dawn of colonisation and centres around two neighbouring villages, Kameno and Makuyu each propped up by their respective r...
Chinua Achebe’s debut novel is the most widely read among modern African literature. It has been translated in over 50 languages and has been accessed on a global scale. It is a fictional precolonial account of Igbo life and reads as a beguiling exposition of Achebe’s divine gift as a social engineer. Things Fall Apart is divided into ...
My happiest times in childhood were spent reading the books of E. Nesbit, C.S. Lewis and Joan Aiken. Preferring to read in hidden corners where nobody could find me, I immersed myself completely in these stories and believed utterly in their magic, even attempting to enter Narnia via the portal of my grandmother’s wardrobe. As an adult...
In his new book, “Betrayal: The Secret Lives of Apartheid Spies”, award-winning journalist Jonathan Ancer explores why it is that spies spy. This interest, and this book, follow on the publication in 2017 of his acclaimed book, Spy. Uncovering Craig Williamson, which delved into the life and treachery of a single apartheid spy.
Toni Morrison, who has died aged 88, was the most influential and studied American author of her generation. Born as Chloe Wofford in Ohio in 1931, she graduated in 1953 with a B.A. in English from Howard University, a historically black...
From evocative prose to moving memoirs and hilarious satire, we bring you some of Africa's best reads from the first half of 2019: