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In this “epic and intimate” memoir (Margo Jefferson, author of Constructing a Nervous System), acclaimed writer Emmanuel Iduma returns to Nigeria to investigate the disappearance of his uncle and confront the truth about a war that shaped him, his family, and a nation: “Quietly brilliant” (Vulture) NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORKER AND TIME MAGAZINE In inimitable, rhythmic prose, the author and winner of the prestigious Windham-Campbell Prize Emmanuel Iduma tells the story of his return to Nigeria, where he grew up, after years of living in New York. He traveled home with an elusive mission: to learn the fate of his uncle Emmanuel, his namesake, who disappeared in the N...
Fiction. African & African American Studies. A young woman loses her grip on reality, destroyed by being the mistress of a powerful general. A pastor hides the innocent from marauding gangs hyped up by post- election fervor. A philosophy professor struggles against his better judgment to save everyone but himself. In present day Nigeria, there are many centers of the universe. Told from various points of view, THE SOUND OF THINGS TO COME departs from the strictures of linear narratives. Loosely centered on the activities of a church, the many colorfully drawn characters in Emmanuel Iduma's breakthrough novel illuminate the complex interconnectedness of a community where individuals struggle ...
Farad, named for the unit of an electrical charge, is a novel that cuts laser-like through a multilayered society. Touching biographies of ordinary citizens—young academics and ageing psychiatrists, Christian editors and call girls, strange women and music artistes—told in stylish, interrupted narratives, are woven into a detailed mosaic of modern Nigeria. Reminiscent of Plutarch’s Parallel Lives, Farad eases to a climax when key characters from individual stories become participants in a conflict at a University Chapel—a conflict in which the nature of power and the strength of love are tested. Farad is an assemblage of fresh narratives woven around simple questions and open-ended complexities. It is, ultimately, a story of love and essence. “Iduma succinctly captures a fractured complex co-existence of various characters that live on the edge of combustible times. Farad is immediate history and despite its volatility, it’s a pleasurable read.” Victor Ehikhamenor, writer and artist, Editor-in-Chief, Daily Times Nigeria. Front Cover “Iduma’s prose, at once seductive and challenging, gleams with ideas.” – Tolu Ogunlesi.
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...Is a unique collection of nine interviews and original short stories by emerging writers from across Africa. The stories in this anthology reflect the nuances that arise from living in a post-postcolonial Africa, where stereotypes are crumbling and writers are willing to tackle themes that are more social than political. Unlike other anthologies of African writing, Gambit's contributors are mostly based in their home countries, putting them closer to the themes they lyrically confront. The interviews provide insight into the writers' inspirations, fears, hopes, and craft. The short stories reveal a range of experiences that are alive with grace, resilience, and humor. Gambit is one way to rediscover today's writing from the African continent. Book jacket.
Powerful, vividly chromatic portraits of African identity and the Western fantasy of cultural otherness Accompanying the first solo exhibition of Swiss Guinean artist Namsa Leuba (born 1982) in the United States, Crossed Looksfeatures Leuba's major projects to date, including photography series in Guinea, South Africa, Nigeria and Benin, and the debut of a new series recently made in Tahiti. The exhibition and publication consider how Leuba's photographic practice explores the representation of African identity and the cultural Other in the Western imagination. Over 90 photographs inspired by the visual culture and ceremonies of West Africa, contemporary fashion and design, and the history of photography and its colonizing gaze present Leuba's unique perspective that straddles reality and fantasy. Through the adaptation of myths attributed to the Other, Leuba's photographs acknowledge this double act of looking, a dialogue of global cultures. The essays included in the book examine the nuanced themes of identity and representation in Leuba's multiple bodies of work.
This remarkable novel evokes the twilight of South Africa's apartheid society in the early 1970s as seen through the eyes of a young Afrikaner boy, Marnus Erasmus. From the story of a seemingly stable and affluent family, whose self-delusion and arrogance masks a troubling undercurrent, comes a harrowing parallel tale of a childhood corrupted and a society beginning to crumble.
Ming Smith's poetic and experimental images are icons of twentieth-century African American life. One of the greatest artist-photographers working today, Smith moved to New York in the 1970s and began to make images charged with startling beauty and spiritual energy. This long-awaited monograph brings together four decades of Smith's work, celebrating her trademark lyricism, distinctively blurred silhouettes, dynamic street scenes, and deep devotion to theater, music, poetry, and dance--from the "Pittsburgh Cycle" plays of August Wilson to the Afrofuturism of Sun Ra. With never-before-seen images, and a range of illuminating essays and interviews, this tribute to Smith's singular vision promises to be an enduring contribution to the history of American photography. Copublished by Aperture and Documentary Arts
Captivating, innovative Ukrainian fiction about displaced women living in the shadow of the war with Russia 'This singular collection brings Ukraine, "the land of residual phenomena," entirely to life' Kirkus Reviews In Lucky Breaks, we encounter anonymous women from the margins of Ukrainian society, their lives upended by the ongoing conflict with Russia. A woman, bewildered by her broken umbrella, tries to abandon it like a sick relative; a beautiful florist suddenly disappears, her shop converted into a warehouse for propaganda; hiding out from the shelling, neighbours read horoscopes in the local paper that tell them when it's safe for them to go outside. In stories of linguistic verve and absurdist wit, Yevgenia Belorusets writes of trauma amidst the mundane, telling surreal, unsettling tales of survival in a shattered country.
A photographic journey by one of the twentieth century’s great photographers through eight African countries on the cusp of independence post WWII. Todd Webb is largely known for his skillful photographic documentation of everyday life and architecture in cities, most notably New York and Paris, as well as his photographs of the American West. This new book showcases a different side of Webb’s work, taken from an assignment that brought him to eight African countries. In 1958, Webb was invited by the United Nations to document Togoland (now Togo), Ghana, Kenya, the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland (now Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Malawi), Somaliland (now Somalia), Sudan, Tanganyika and Zan...