Archive:

2013 was quite the year for African/African diaspora literature. It was the year that brought us NoViolet Bulawayo’s Booker We Need New Names shortlisted for the Booker Prize.

‘You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don’t ever count on having both at once’. Science fiction writer, Robert A Heinlein, once wrote. And the Young Vic’s production of A Season in the  Congo, brings this sage expression sharply to mind.

The 2013 Caine Prize shortlist in making up for what it lacks in diversity (all five stories are by writers from West Africa), features remarkably relatable and topical themes: faith and disappointment, emigration and homecoming, religion and politics.

Sola Njoku talks about the amazing resurgence of Nigerian writing over the past decade and some of the reasons for its success.