Ake Festival Reveals Star-Studded Guest List for its 2020 Edition.
Ake Festival has unveiled a star-studded guest list for its 2020 edition. This has over eighty distinguished guests, the highest in the festival’s history. There is a vast blend of singers, writers, poets and other artists from around Africa and beyond.
Featuring for the first time are: Nigerian singers Blackman Akeeb Kareem, Beautiful Nubia and Ade Bantu, and Moroccan sensation Bab L’Bluz, Afurakan. Others include: Abdourahman Waberi, Molara Wood, Abdulbasit Kassim, Arit Okpo, Maryam Aliko Mohammed, Afua Hirsch, Remi Vaughan-Richards, Ainehi Edoro, Abi Dare, Aduke Gomez, Aisha Babalakin, Aisha Salaudeen, James Murua among others.
The festival will be held online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This year’s theme is African Time. Expectations are very high. This feels like one we will not forget in a hurry.
To view the full guest list, visit akefestival.org/guests
Oscar-Nominated Daniel Kaluuya to Star in Netflix Adaptation of The Upper World by Femi Fadugba.
The Upper World is the forthcoming YA novel by Nigerian author and physicist, Femi Fadugba. It follows a 16-year old boy, Esso, who uncovers the ability to see into the past and the future when he is faced by a personal crisis. The book has recently been optioned for film adaptation by Netflix.
Actor Daniel Kaluuya who is notable for his roles in Black Panther, Get Out, and Queen & Slim, will star as Esso. He will also co-produce while Femi Fadugba serves as the executive producer.
Congratulations, Femi!
Brittle Paper to Launch The Decade Project in Celebration of 10-Year Anniversary.
Brittle Paper has, in the last 10 years, brought to African literature enthusiasts the latest about books and African literary culture. To commemorate this milestone, the platform is launching a month-long celebration of ideas, The Decade Project.
From September 7 to October 2, a collection of specially curated content will be published in partnership with the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s African Studies Program. This will include interviews with Taiye Selasi, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, Chinelo Okparanta, Prof. Simon Gikandi, Kalaf Epalanga, Lola Shoneyin; essays by Ben Okri, Minna Salami, Chris Abani, and many more.
Loyal readers and fans will cart away books in weeks of giveaways. To be part of this celebration, please follow Brittle Paper on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook; and also share the link: #brittlepaperturns10 #decadeproject #theboomyearsofafrilit.
Zukiswa Wanner Receives the Goethe Medal 2020.
Writer, publisher and curator, Zukiswa Wanner becomes the first black woman to be awarded the Goethe medal.
She was announced one of the winners sometime in April alongside: Bolivian artist and museum director Elvira Espejo Ayca; and British writer Ian McEwan.
Wanna received the award remotely in a virtual ceremony on August 28, 2020, the birthday of Wolfgang Von Goethe.
For more on the award, visit https://zukiswawanner.com/index.php/2020/08/31/receiving-the-goethe-medal-2020-on-wolfgang-von-goethes-birthday/
Congratulations, Zukiswa.
Kenechi Uzor Launches Iskanchi Press & Mag with a Call for Submissions.
Nigerian writer and former editor at Kachifo, Kenechi Uzor has launched Iskanchi Press, a US-based independent publishing house.
“Iskanchi” is “the Hausa word for mischief, irreverence, and craziness.” The mission is to create visibility for African writers that go against convention.
Iskanchi Press accepts fiction, essays, poetry, folklores, children’s books, books on African heroes and history, as written by Africans.
Iskanchi Magazine is interested in “works that engage with and examine what experimental form look like in the African literary context…pieces that disobey in form and content, in works that bother by being without borders.”
Volunteers and Interns: Interested applicants should send their CV to kenechi.uzor@iskanchi.com
For more details visit the website here.
Ukamaka Olisakwe Launches Isele Magazine with a Call for Submissions
Nigerian writer, Ukamaka Olisakwe has launched a new magazine, Isele Magazine.
The team includes: Ukamaka, Founder/Publisher/Editor-in-Chief; Kenechi Uzor, Deputy Editor; Tracy Haught, Fiction Editor; Saddiq Dzukogi, Poetry Editor; Rebecca Jamieson, Nonfiction Editor; Amara Okolo, Fiction & Photography Editor. Guest editors are: Cameron Finch, fiction; and Megan Ross, nonfiction.
The magazine seeks to publish “a monthly web magazine, a quest-curated quarterly series, a yearly print magazine …”
For more information on how to submit, click here
Con Scio Magazine Calls for Submissions.
Cọ́n-scìò Magazine is open for its maiden edition: Con Scio Magazine/Issue 1/Vol 1/Oct 2020. The theme for this issue is ‘The Lockdown’.
Entries can be poetry, flash fiction, short non-fiction, or art and photography “that honestly capture aspects of our everyday lives during the coronavirus lockdown.”
Deadline for submission is Sunday, September 13, 2020
For details visit https://www.wrr.ng/call-for-submissions/lockdown-con-scio-magazine-issue-1-vol-1-oct-2020/
