Tag: African writers in America

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Nigeria remains home despite my long sojourn abroad –Itoro Bassey
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By The Sun Newspaper

For writer Itoro Bassey, in spite of her many years sojourn in America, Nigeria remains the best place to be notwithstanding its numerous challenges.

Speaking at the inauguration of her book titled, “Faith” in Abuja recently, Bassey said: “Though, Nigeria is presently going through some economic and security challenges, I chose to come home to deal with the challenges and see how I can contribute my quota towards making the country great.” 

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American Odessey

James Magot| Lancaster City man commemorates 20th anniversary arriving in America from Sudan with children’s book about multi-cultural identity
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By Jermaine Rowley | fox43

LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. — An active leader in Lancaster refugee communities is taking a creative approach to inform children and their parents about multi-cultural identity. James Magot, 40, a former South-Sudanese “Lost Boy” refugee is developing his first children’s storybook with the help of illustrator Tess Feiler and a few other local collaborators in honor of his 20th anniversary of arriving in America.

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Maaza Mengiste | Ethiopian-American author says ‘My 20-year-old self never realised you could become a writer’
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by Hester Lacey | Financial Times

Maaza Mengiste, 49, was shortlisted for this year’s Booker Prize for her novel The Shadow King, which draws on women’s experiences of the 1930s war between Ethiopia and Italy. She was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from where her family fled during the 1974-91 civil war, and she has subsequently lived in Nigeria, Kenya and the US. A professor of creative writing and literary translation at Queens College, New York, she is also the author of Beneath the Lion’s Gaze.

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Book review

Laila Lalami | For some Americans, having a US passport doesn’t mean you’re treated like a citizen
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by Madeleine Brand | KCRW

“All the passports look the same, but not everybody looks the same to the border agents,” says author Laila Lalami, who was born in Morocco and became a U.S. citizen in 2000.

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Book review

Maaza Mengiste | Her Booker shortlisted novel choreographs women’s footprints on the battlefield
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By Aditi Sriram | Scrool.in

Ethiopian-American Maaza Mengiste’s second novel, The Shadow King, recounts a tumultuous war in Ethiopian history that took the country by surprise, pit locals against one another, and left them scarred for decades to come. Narrating the story is an invisible, omniscient chorus of women, inspired by Mengiste’s own great-grandmother. They alternate between singing, mourning, and rallying the troops into action, never allowing the reader a moment of silence. The result is a visceral story of violence, loyalty and forgiveness.

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News

Ethiopia-American Maaza Mengiste and Zimbabwean Writer Tsitsi Dangarembga make Booker Prize short List
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By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press | Greeneville Sun

Ethiopia-American Maaza Mengiste and Zimbabwean writer Tsitsi Dangarembga are among six finalists announced for the prestigious Booker Prize for fiction.

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Yaa Gyasi | Ghanaian-American author draws on her upbringing in new book ‘Transcendent Kingdom’
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By TERRY GROSS | NPR

Author Yaa Gyasi’s family emigrated from Ghana to the United States when she was 2, but it wasn’t until she was 9 and her family moved to Huntsville, Ala., that she began to feel like she didn’t fit in.

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Abdi Nor Iftin: A Somali immigrant hopes his book for young adults will inspire others to tell their story
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By Victoria Zhuang | Boston Globe

As a young man fleeing violence and civil war in his native Somalia, Abdi Nor Iftin dreamed of a magnificent future in America. In 2014, after years of stateless limbo in Kenya, he won the Diversity Visa lottery, a program that offers a limited number of visas to applicants from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States. His 2018 memoir “Call Me American” describes his experiences resettling in the United States.

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Namwali Serpell: Her first novel took fifteen years to write but this Zambian-born writer has won $175, 000 from two major awards one year later.
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By Ebimo Amungo

It took Namwali Serpell fifteen years to complete her first novel, The Old Drift, but already the book has won two major awards worth $175, 000 only one year after its release in March, 2019.

Continue reading “Namwali Serpell: Her first novel took fifteen years to write but this Zambian-born writer has won $175, 000 from two major awards one year later.” →
Book review

Tony K Ansah, Jr’s new book Chronicles Progress Revolving Around African Business Innovations
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Tony K Ansah, Jr., M.P.A. is a self-published author and a social entrepreneur based in Rhode Island, U.S.A. He has written and published several books and content via poems, quotes, fiction, non-fiction, blogs, and articles. Tony has received national & international recognition for his articles about African business, culture, and philanthropy. He recently released a new book on his entrepreneurial journey and progress so far.

By Tony Kwame Ansah, Jr. | Modern Ghana

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Book review

For Her Debut, Abi Daré Confronts ‘Dreams and Intelligence That We Kill’
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Writing “The Girl With the Louding Voice,” about a 14-year-old employed as a housemaid, challenged how the novelist viewed a common practice in her native Nigeria.

By Concepción de León | New York Times

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Book review

This gripping memoir tells the story of a girl — and South Africa — coming of age
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Always Another Country,” by Sisonke Msimang (World Editions/World Editions)

Msimang’s stories teach readers about race and racism, how one’s political ideology shifts, and about contemporary South African political history

By Kim Yi Dionne

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Book review

In The Other Americans, Laila Lalami reveals what unites and divides us
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By David Canfield

Late on a spring night in the Mojave’s Yucca Valley, Driss Guerraoui is killed in a brutal hit-and-run. We meet the man as a helpless victim, but over the course of The Other Americans, he emerges with complexity: a loving grandfather, a flawed husband, a diner operator, a philosophy scholar, a native of Morocco. His death sets into motion a reckoning over 9/11’s long shadow for Muslim Americans, and the treacherous place immigrants occupy in the current climate.

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