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Sebald’s Austerlitz
Apart from the fact that the entire novel is one long paragraph, Austerlitz is also a novel that does not want to be a novel. Is it a mock-biography? A picture book of sorts? A reflection on...
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Frames of Suffering
Abu Graib photos, like other photographs that represent suffering, are unsettling not because they are shocking but because they make demands on us. The act of looking at photographs like that is...
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Black Swan
I needed something to jar me out of the stupor of a suburban Christmas eve. So I went to see Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan. With all the trash that has come out of Hollywood this year, Black Swan is...
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A Strange New Fiction: Ben Okri and His Stokus
My bookshelves have long since given up. They’ve taken to spitting out books on the carpet at the slightest ache from overload. And Starbook (2007) is one of such books. It is the fourth book from the...
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Clearly, A Transparent Blogpost
What is Clear? A Transparent Novel. A story in a perspex box. You can see through Clear. I am guessing because you kinda know how its going to end. It’s about David Blaine. Isn’t it? And the televised...
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Walks of Discovery: Open City by Teju Cole
Open City, Teju Cole‘s first novel, is an unusual read. I find myself drawn to the small things in the novel. Take for example the simple act of walking. In Open City, walking is a strange activity....
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Occasionally, I Pass By Little Shops…
Occasionally, I pass by little shops–in the rue de Seine, for example. Dealers in antiques or small second-hand booksellers or vendors of engravings with overcrowded windows. No one ever enters their...
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NEW BOOK: Laughter by Anca Parvulescu
Philosophers have always been fascinated by laughter. They’ve asked all sorts of questions about it. Do animals laugh? Which part of the body is responsible for laughter? Can God laugh? What is the...
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CAINE PRIZE STORIES | A Review of Miracle by Tope Folarin
Tope Folarin. Author of “Miracle.” Nigeria. Tope Folarin’s “Miracle” is one of the shortlisted stories for the Caine Prize for African Fiction, the first of five stories that I will be reviewing in...
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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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Lover−Philosopher, Playboy−Trumpeter | Review of Dami Ajayi’s Clinical Blues...
It is not quaint, or a tongue-in-cheek affair when Ayodele Arigbabu, in his praise for Clinical Blues, said that we should “beware of medical doctors who moonlight as poet”—it does seem like a...
View Article#WeLoveBooks | Silence is My Mother Tongue by Sulaiman Addonia
2018 has been a rich harvest for African fiction. Just when we thought the year couldn’t yield any more gems, Sulaiman Addonia’s Silence is a Mother Tongue comes out and wows us with one of the most...
View ArticleThe Poetics of the Outcast in Wayétu Moore’s She Would Be King | Reviews by...
1 She Would Be King by Wayetu Moore takes me back to one of the most tragic characters in African literature. Unoka the father of Okonkwo. Unoka always had trouble fitting in. As a child, he roams...
View ArticleA Strange New Fiction: Ben Okri and His Stokus
My bookshelves have long since given up. They’ve taken to spitting out books on the carpet at the slightest ache from overload. And Starbook (2007) is one of such books. It is the fourth book from the...
View ArticleClearly, A Transparent Blogpost
What is Clear? A Transparent Novel. A story in a perspex box. You can see through Clear. I am guessing because you kinda know how its going to end. It’s about David Blaine. Isn’t it? And the televised...
View ArticleWalks of Discovery: Open City by Teju Cole
Open City, Teju Cole‘s first novel, is an unusual read. I find myself drawn to the small things in the novel. Take for example the simple act of walking. In Open City, walking is a strange activity. It...
View ArticleOccasionally, I Pass By Little Shops…
Occasionally, I pass by little shops–in the rue de Seine, for example. Dealers in antiques or small second-hand booksellers or vendors of engravings with overcrowded windows. No one ever enters their...
View ArticleNEW BOOK: Laughter by Anca Parvulescu
Philosophers have always been fascinated by laughter. They’ve asked all sorts of questions about it. Do animals laugh? Which part of the body is responsible for laughter? Can God laugh? What is the...
View ArticleCAINE PRIZE STORIES | A Review of Miracle by Tope Folarin
Tope Folarin’s “Miracle” is one of the shortlisted stories for the Caine Prize for African Fiction, the first of five stories that I will be reviewing in the next couple of weeks. After two months on a...
View ArticleWriter 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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