Tag Archives: literature

Kyambogo University to host project on perspectives on both Ugandan and medieval literature LITERATURE | MADELINE BIRGE | When the late Ugandan scholar Pio Zirimu coined the term orature to describe the oral literary tradition of Africa, he created an opening for medieval scholars to connect sub-Saharan African oral literature to …

TRIBUTE | BY CHARLES ONYANGO-OBBO | Kenyan author Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o (January 1938 – 28 May 2025) was one of Africa’s most celebrated literary figures. He never just wrote books. He staged revolts, each title a well-aimed Molotov hurled at the colonial cannon, the neocolonial bureaucrat, and the post-independence sell-out. …

Five things you should know about Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, one of Africa’s greatest writers of all time COMMENT | PETER KIMANI | One of Africa’s most celebrated authors Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o has passed away. The Kenyan writer and academic was 87 years old. Having published his first novel – Weep Not Child …

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Principal Judge Dr Flavian Zeija called upon everyone who wishes Ugandan writers well, to always refer to their work instead of prioritising foreign authors. At the launch of the book “Small Book of Big Quotes”, authored by the Judiciary’s Permanent Secretary, at Judiciary headquarters …

London, United Kingdom | AFP |  Michelle Obama on Monday returned to a London school she had visited as US first lady encouraging students to “practice sisterhood” as she presented a new memoir of her life. Obama is in the British capital to promote her hotly-anticipated book, “Becoming”, which has …

Stockholm, Sweden | AFP | The Swedish Academy, which has awarded the Nobel Literature Prize since 1901, said Monday it would expand its prize jury to include outsiders for the first time following a scandal that forced it to postpone this year’s award. The venerable institution has been in crisis …

Stockholm, Sweden | AFP | What do you do when this year’s Nobel Literature Prize, the world’s most prestigious accolade of its kind, is postponed because of a sexual assault scandal? You create your own award. More than 100 Swedish intellectuals have joined forces to form a new prize-giving body …

Lancaster, UK | THE INDEPENDENT | A Lancaster University alumna has been awarded a life-changing prize for literature. Dr Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi has been awarded the 2018 Windham-Campbell Prize in Fiction, which includes a grant of $165,000 (Sh603 million) to support her writing. Jennifer, a Ugandan novelist and short story …

Paris, France | AFP | The great global reckoning with sexual harassment is “long overdue”, says acclaimed Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, but the feminist figurehead in Africa hopes it is not “a passing fad”. As the global #MeToo movement against sexual misconduct continues in the wake of the disgraced …

Lagos, Nigeria | AFP | Mention Nigerian literature and the first names likely to spring to mind are Chinua Achebe, the author of “Things Fall Apart”, or the venerable Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka. But Africa’s most populous nation has a new crop of writers whose work is a far cry from …