By M. Lynx Qualey Arabic literature is often seen as something that belongs to the “Middle East,” not to Africa. This sharp distinction is not just a recent invention, but an impoverishing one, and one that novelists have continually subverted. Sudanese writers like Hammour Ziada (Longing of the Dervish) or Amir Tag El-Sir (French Perfume, … More Afro-Arab Fiction in Translation: 5 Must Read Novels from 2015 and 5 to Look Forward to in 2016

By Gloria Kiconco When Lawino abuses Ocol, my ears burn and I hope her discerning eyes cannot see through the thin sheet of education I cover myself with. Her attacks in verse chronicle my one-sided romance with whiteness. Her buzzing anger is what I swallow whenever my head cranes to see which fair-skinned face has … More Required Reading: Reflections on Lawino’s Ocol 50 Years Later

By Mamadou Diallo  African Francophone literature seems to me so much less vibrant these days and less favourable for emerging new voices than its Anglophone counterpart. In 2015, much like in 2014, most of the fiction works I read were published in English speaking Africa. However, I interrupted my unpatriotic escapades out of the Francophonie … More Seven Outstanding 2015 Books of African Francophone Fiction