Writing Africa Podcast
By Writing Africa
Writing Africa Podcast Sep 04, 2023
Episode 35: Recapping August, Interviewing Irene Muchemi-Ndiritu
We say goodbye to Trinidad and Tobago author Michael Anthony, talk about the NBO LitFest, as well as the awards that have been given in August. We also debut novelist Irene Muchemi-Ndiritu. Remember that you can support the work we do archiving African and Black literature via PayPal, Mobile Money, or Patreon starting at $3 a month. For more information please click here.
Episode 34: Kenya Writes with Goethe-Institut: Chief Nyamweya
We chat with graphic novelist Chief Nyamweya on how he got into writing graphic novels and the Trust novel which incorporates blockchain in the storytelling. Get your copy of the book by clicking here.
Remember that you can support the work we do archiving African and Black literature via PayPal, Mobile Money, or Patreon starting at $3 a month. For more information please click here.
Episode 33: Good Micere Mugo and Kole Omotoso, awards and festivals
In episode 33, we say goodbye to Good Micere Mugo and Kole Omotoso, and talk about what has been happening is the awards and festivals in African and Black literature scene.
Episode 32: Litafrika: Artistic Encounters II and other updates
Transition
Egyptian Novelist Hamdy Abu Golayyel has passed away Egyptian Novelist Hamdy Abu Golayyel passed away on Sunday, June 11, 2023.
Exhibition
Litafrika: Artistic Encounters II exhibition for Zurich organised by Swiss partners Litar Foundation and Strauhof Zurich. Curator Zukiswa Wanner gives a tour here;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0c1_lcyLnuk&t=95s&pp=ygUJbGl0YWZyaWth
Festivals
Abuja Literary and Arts Festival 2023 for September, Ake Festival 2023 for November, and Feira do Livro de Maputo 2023 kicks off on July 27.
Awards
Ananda Devi wins Grand Prix de l’Héroïne Madame Figaro 2023, Gracia Mwamba and Feranmi Ariyo win Evaristo Prize for African Poetry 2023, Reem Gaafar wins Island Prize 2023, and Paterson Joseph wins UK’s RSL Christopher Bland Prize 2023.
Episode 31: Goodbye Ama Ata Aidoo, interviewing Abdulrazak Gurnah
Welcome to episode 29 of the Writing Africa Podcast. It’s a blockbuster one as we say goodbye to author, poet, playwright, and academic Ama Ata Aidoo and South African writer, political analyst, journalist, and broadcaster Eusebius McKaiser.
We will be chatting about the prize the Kendeka Prize, Arablit Short Story Prize, and the Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival (BCLF) Short Fiction Story Contest as well as we recommend that you read Caribbean books this Read Caribbean Month.
We have an interview this week. We caught up with Nobel laureate Abdulrazak Gurnah at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2022. Apologies for the quality of the interview sound. The interview was conducted in a corner at the Frankfurt Book Fair. Thank you so much Frankfurter Buchmesse for making the interview happen.
Episode 30: We are now the Writing Africa Podcast
For the first time in a decade, we have a new identity in Writing Africa and we explain a bit about why this was so. We also talk about the winners of the Dylan Thomas Prize, Nebula Awards, Pulitzer Prize Prix Orange du Livre en Afrique as well as those shortlisted for the Island Prize. We also talk about some festivals like the 72 heures du livre Conakry which ran in April and the forthcoming Mogadishu Book Fair, Calabash Festival, and the Ake Festival.
Episode 29: Kenya Writes with Goethe Institut; Khadija Abdalla Bajaber
Welcome to episode 27 of the Writing Africa Podcast. Today’s guests of Khadija Abdalla Bajaber won the Greywolf Africa Prize in 2018 and went on to write House of Rust. In this episode, we chat with the Mombasa-born and bred writer about winning the Graywolf Prize and how it changed her life, her writing influences, and loads more.
This podcast has been supported by Goethe-Institute Kenya as part of the "Kenya Writes" series.
Enjoy.
Episode 28: Zimbabwe-American writer and publisher Munashe Kaseke
Welcome to episode 26 of the Writing Africa Podcast. Today’s guest is Zimbabwe-born, USA-based Munashe Kaseke, the writer of the debut short story collection Send Her Back and Other Stories as well as the founder of independent publisher Mukana Press.
In our episode, she speaks about her writing, her journey as a publisher, and how she hopes to navigate the markets both in the USA and on the continent.
Enjoy.
Episode 27: Kenya Writes with Goethe-Institut: Patrick Ochieng.
The Kenya Writes guest for today is Kisumu-based lawyer and author Patrick Ochieng who was shortlisted for the 2010 Golden Baobab Prize and the NALIF Writing Competition in 2017. He has been published in Kikwetu, Munyori, Brittle Paper, and other literary publications. He lives in Kisumu, Kenya, with his family. His debut book for children is Playing a Dangerous Game, published by Norton Young Readers.
We talk about his entry into the writing business, why he writes for children, what inspired his book Playing a Dangerous Game, and some of his forthcoming projects.
This podcast has been supported by Goethe-Institute Kenya as part of the "Kenya Writes" series.
Enjoy.
Episode 26: Kenya Writes With Goethe-Institut: Lorna Likiza
The Kenya Writes guest for today is Mombasa-based writer and festival organiser Lorna Likiza whose debut literary offering is the children’s book Oi Gets Lost. She tells us their journey to her first book, working with her Ukrainian illustrator, about her festival the Heroe Book Fair, and about the writing scene in her adopted town of Mombasa.
This podcast has been supported by Goethe-Institute Kenya as part of the "Kenya Writes" series.
Enjoy
Episode 25: Kenya Writes with Goethe-Institut - Fatma Shafii
Fatma Shafii is a Swahili writer who likes to write about human behaviour and emerging issues affecting the continent based in Mombasa. Her poems, fiction and nonfiction have been published in various platforms including creativewritersleague.co.keand the online literary magazine Lolwe. She is the founder of SHIWAKI (Shirika La Waandishi wa Kiswahili), an association of writers of the Swahili language. She is also one of the authors of Water Birds on the Lakeshore, the anthology of Afro Young Adult fiction, published in French, English and Kiswahili.
This podcast has been supported by Goethe-Institute Kenya as part of the "Kenya Writes" series.
Episode 24: Mariette Tchamda Mbunpi and Annette Michael
This week’s podcast, repurposed from the livestream that happened on November 25, 2020 featuring Mariette Tchamda Mbunpi and Annette Michael. The podcast is a production of James Murua Literary in cooperation with Frankfurter Buchmesse with financial support from the German Federal Foreign Office.
Enjoy.
Episode 23: Ondjaki and Philipp Khabo Koepsell livestream
This week’s podcast, repurposed from the livestream that happened on Thursday, November 18, 2020 featuring Ondjaki and Philipp Khabo Koepsell. The podcast is a production by James Murua Literary in cooperation with Frankfurter Buchmesse with financial support from the German Federal Foreign Office.
Enjoy
Episode 22: Maaza Mengiste and Antje Rávik Strubel livestream - Part 2
This week’s podcast, repurposed from the Thursday, November 12 livestream, features Maaza Mengiste and Antje Rávik Strubel. The podcast is a production by James Murua Literary in cooperation with Frankfurter Buchmesse with financial support from the German Federal Foreign Office. This is the second part of the podcast.
Enjoy
Episode 21: Maaza Mengiste and Antje Rávik Strubel livestream - Part 1
Welcome to episode 20 of the James Murua Literary Podcast. This week’s podcast, repurposed from the Thursday, November 12 Livestream, features Maaza Mengiste and Antje Rávik Strubel. The podcast is a production by James Murua Literary in cooperation with Frankfurter Buchmesse with financial support from the German Federal Foreign Office.
Enjoy
Episode 20: Abubakar Adam Ibrahim livestream - Part 2
Abubakar Adam Ibrahim is a Nigerian writer and journalist who has written the short story collection "The Whispering Trees" and the award-winning novel "Season of Crimson Blossoms."
In this podcast, we talk about his newest short story collection "Dreams and Assorted Nightmares" forthcoming from Masobe Books and publishing in Nigeria,
Episode 19: Abubakar Adam Ibrahim livestream- Part 1
Abubakar Adam Ibrahim is a Nigerian writer and journalist who has written the short story collection "The Whispering Trees" and the award-winning novel "Season of Crimson Blossoms."
In this podcast, we talk about his newest short story collection "Dreams and Assorted Nightmares" forthcoming from Masobe Books and publishing in Nigeria,
Episode 18: Ayesha Harruna Attah interview
Ayesha Harruna Attah is a Ghanaian-born Senegal-based writer of the books Harmattan Rain (2008), Saturday's Shadow (2015), and The Hundred Wells of Salaga (2015). Ayesha's newest title "The Deep Blue Between," which was published on October 15, 2020, is a Young Adult offering that could be considered a sequel to The Hundred Wells of Salaga.
In this interview, we speak about her move to write for Young Adults, talks in-depth about the new book, and speaks about what it takes to write historical fiction.
Episode 17: Peter Kimani interview
Peter Kimani is an award-winning Kenyan author and journalist. He works across a broad spectrum of genres, from fiction to non-fiction, poetry, and plays. His latest novel, Dance of the Jakaranda, was published in New York in February 2017, to great critical acclaim. It’s a New York Times Editors’ Choice, among other accolades.
On this podcast, we chat with the Kenyan about his newest book and how it came to be, why he needed to go abroad before he finally got a local publisher, and the new anthology "Nairobi Noir" published by Akashic Books earlier in the year.
Episode 16: Chimeka Garricks interview
Chimeka Garricks is a lawyer, editor, and ghost copywriter. His fiction includes the acclaimed novel, Tomorrow Died Yesterday and the collection of short stories, A Broken People’s Playlist. The collection which he wrote with the aid of music while trying to avoid working on another novel is coming in June.
The Lagos-based writer shared with us why he turned to the short form to get his writing mojo back, how the Nigerian and African literary scene has changed since his last book came out ten years ago and his expectations of being a guest at the Afrolit Sans Frontieres festival currently running online.
This podcast is a part of our role as media partner of the Afrolit Sans Frontières.,
Episode 15: Joe Khamisi interview (with Prestige Books).
Joe Khamisi has had a long history of public service in Kenya. For many years he worked as a journalist before transitioning into civil service and then parliament. When his legislative career ended, he wrote the nonfiction titles The Politics of Betrayal: Diary of a Kenyan Legislator (2011), Dash Before Dusk: A Slave Descendant’s Journey In Freedom (2014), The Wretched Africans (2016), and Looters And Grabbers: 54 Years of Corruption and Plunder by the Elite, 1963 – 2017 (2018). His latest book The Bribery Syndrome: How Multinational Corporations Collude with Dictators to Raid Africa's Natural Resources was published in 2019.
In an in-depth interview, Khamisi shared why he had to write a book about the slavery on the East African coast, how a dysfunctional Kenyan publishing industry forced him to go the self-publishing route, and how a pirated copy of his book Looters And Grabbers started circulating in Kenyan WhatsApp groups.
We would like to thank Prestige Books for sponsoring this edition of the podcast. Prestige Books is your favourite bookstore for African and other literatures with branches on Mama Ngina Street in the Central Business District and at the Lavington Mall.
Episode 14: Kenyan novelist Makena Maganjo (sponsored by Prestige Books).
The African Literary Podcast, sponsored by Nairobi-based Prestige Books, interviews Kenyan novelist Makena Maganjo.
A few weeks ago, Makena Maganjo’s debut novel South B’s finest about life in a Nairobi estate over a few decades launched at the Goethe-Institut. The book has since gotten rave reviews from a writer very few had heard about before then. We speak to Makena at a Nairobi restaurant about her new book, how excited she is that the book has resonated with Kenyans and the writers who inspire here like Ayobami Adebayo and Zadie Smith.
We would like to thank Prestige Books for sponsoring this edition of the podcast. Prestige Books is your favourite bookstore for African and other literatures with branches on Mama Ngina Street in the Central Business District and at the Lavington Mall.
Episode 13: Lauren Beukes (with Prestige Books).
Lauren Beukes is the author of the books Maverick: Extraordinary Women From South Africa's Past (2004), Moxyland (2008), Zoo City(2010), The Shining Girls (2013), Broken Monsters (2014), and Motherland (2019). Her comics include The Wonder Woman, All The Survivors Club, The Pretty Ponies, and The Hidden Kingdom. She has won many awards for her writing including the Mbokodo Awards, the Strand Critics Award, and the Arthur C Clarke Award, the biggest award for science fiction in the world, for Zoo City in 2011. She is the only African to have won it so far.
The Cape Town resident spoke to us during the Sharjah International Book Fair in 2018 about the importance of art (prescient in ythe Covid19 world we now live in), the anger that inspired The Shining Girls and the positive effect of the Arthur C Clarke Award on her writing career.
We would like to thank Prestige Books for sponsoring this edition of the podcast. Prestige Books is your favourite bookstore for African and other literatures with branches on Mama Ngina Street in the Central Business District and at the Lavington Mall.
Episode 12: Kinyanjui Kombani interview (sponsored by Prestige Books)
In Episode 12, we interview with Kenyan writer of fiction for all ages Kinyanjui Kombani. Kombani has two novels in The Last Villains of Molo and Den of Inequities has written several books for children and young adults.
In this interview conducted at the beginning of the year, Kombani speaks about his career so far, why Kenyan fiction hasn’t been forthcoming over the last few years, and the need to have a more Pan African approach to publishing.
We would like to thank Prestige Books for sponsoring this edition of the podcast. Prestige Books is your favourite bookstore for African and other literatures with branches on Mama Ngina Street in the Central Business District and at the Lavington Mall or online at https://prestigebookshop.com/.
Episode 11: Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor interview (sponsored by Prestige Books)
This is an exclusive interview with Kenyan novelist Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor conducted in a little café by Lavington Mall, Nairobi. She talks about her relationship with the late great Kenyan writer Binyavanga Wainaina, the China that she writes about in her book The Dragonfly Sea. She also shares some of her favourite women writers. We would like to thank Prestige Books for sponsoring this edition of the podcast. Prestige Books is your favourite bookstore for your African and other literatures with branches on Mama Ngina Street in the Central Business District and at the Lavington Mall.
Episode 10: Mohale Mashigo interview
South African writer Mohale Mashigo talks about her work on her novel The Yearning, how she got to work on South Africa’s first comic superhero Kwezi, writing a book from a movie as well as a few writers she recommends.
Episode 9: Eulogising Charles Mungoshi
In the African Literary Podcast Episode 9, we eulogise Zimbabwe author, poet and actor Charles Mungoshi who passed away on February 16, 2019.
Episode 8: Mukoma Wa Ngugi keynote address
In Episode 8, we give you the lecture that was given by author, poet, and scholar Mukoma Wa Ngugi at St Paul's University in Limuru on Thursday, February 7, 2019. The address was on the relationship between Africans and African Americans.
Episode 7: News from the African literary scene
The African Literary Podcast by James Murua returns with look back at what happened in 2018 , new books and festivals of note. We also say goodbye to those who passed on.
Episode 6: Pede Hollist interview
He gives his impression of the Sierra Leone Literary Scene including the Sierra Leone Writers Series and the Sierra Leone writers do we need to be reading?
He also talks about his work as a Fulbright scholar in Sierra Leone and his opinion on the Caine Prize that was announced last week.
Episode 5: Kafula Mwila interview.
Episode 4: Angela Makholwa interview
Episode 3: News from the African literary scene
Episode 2: News from the African literary scene
www.jamesmurua.com/african-literary-podcast-episode-2/