tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57488377832351700292026-04-10T00:02:09.281-05:00African Book Reviews. African Author Interviews. An African book blog deeply committed to promoting and reviewing books by authors of African ancestry especially those on the continent of Africa. Osondu Nnamdi Awarakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00828719217990670598noreply@blogger.comBlogger177125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5748837783235170029.post-83049645194718966632019-02-01T20:38:00.003-06:002019-02-01T22:13:07.720-06:00

January's gone. February's here and it's Black History Month 2019! For the past two years I've dedicated my February posts to celebrating African American authors. Finding novels that I genuinely want to read for this month's celebration was tougher than I expected but I finally settled on these four books: 1) Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes 2) A Kind of Freedom by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton 3) All

Osondu Nnamdi Awarakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00828719217990670598noreply@blogger.com104tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5748837783235170029.post-63067056438899886302018-12-27T10:41:00.002-06:002019-01-14T16:03:01.420-06:00

Isn't it crazy that there's only 4 days left in the year 2018?! This has been an incredible year and I'm grateful for all of my experiences. Let's talk about boookssss!!! Last year I began the tradition of looking back at all the books I read during the year so let's dive in once again using lists. Here we go! Books I READ in 2018! 1) Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward  2)

Osondu Nnamdi Awarakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00828719217990670598noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5748837783235170029.post-89744139695889447942018-12-03T21:52:00.001-06:002018-12-03T23:41:43.699-06:00

We're approaching the end of another year and so it's time for my annual review of the Caine Prize for African Writing Anthology. I've been reviewing the Caine Prize Anthology on this blog site since 2015! I find great pleasure and excitement in reading short stories from new voices and familiar voices every year.  As always, I preordered my copy of this years anthology, Redemption Song

Osondu Nnamdi Awarakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00828719217990670598noreply@blogger.com72tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5748837783235170029.post-37800083029075094192018-10-27T16:11:00.000-05:002018-10-27T16:11:02.610-05:00

Kachifo Limited launched its new e-book store, farafinabooks.com, on October 20th, 2018. Now, you can buy and read on your devices your best-loved titles from any of their imprints: Farafina, Tuuti, Breeze and Kamsi. To Start Reading on Farafinabooks - Go to farafinabooks.com - Click on Free Account on the top right corner of the site and fill in your details - After completing the form,

Osondu Nnamdi Awarakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00828719217990670598noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5748837783235170029.post-58983507852574260422018-08-13T13:52:00.002-05:002018-08-13T13:52:37.500-05:00

Farafina is set to publish debut novel, Of Women and Frogs, by Bisi Adjapon, in December 2018. Of Women and Frogs is a coming-of-age story of Esi, a feisty half-Nigerian girl growing up in post-colonial Ghana, with occasional visits to her maternal family in Lagos. When her curiousity about her body leads to punishment from her stepmother, Esi begins to question the hypocrisy of the adults

Osondu Nnamdi Awarakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00828719217990670598noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5748837783235170029.post-91808056311204175312018-03-07T12:05:00.000-06:002018-03-07T14:04:40.808-06:00

19 Y.O. The night before I turned 20 Ten years ago in an internet cafe on the University of Nigeria, Nsukka campus I created this blog site and published my first blog post titled My Blogenesis. I was there that night with Onyeka Nwelue but he was at a different computer station because that night the cyber cafe was packed. I had needed convincing by my friends Eromo Egbejule and Nwelue (both

Osondu Nnamdi Awarakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00828719217990670598noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5748837783235170029.post-40943004427159640712018-03-04T19:43:00.000-06:002018-03-04T19:55:22.185-06:00

There are eight short stories in Going to Meet the Man. The first is The Rockpile, a tale of a small family and its abusive patriarch. In The Outing a young black adolescent boy bears the weight of a yet to be fully understood secret that makes him different from the other boys. In The Man Child Eric and his parents celebrate the birthday of his father's childhood friend, Jamie. Jamie,

Osondu Nnamdi Awarakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00828719217990670598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5748837783235170029.post-46857388948289980732018-02-27T11:55:00.002-06:002018-02-27T14:16:24.724-06:00

Junot Diaz's Drown is a collection of ten short stories. It begins with Ysrael, a tale of two brothers who set out to track down a local kid whose mauled face is perpetually hidden behind a mask. In Fiesta a family poses a united front at a party despite the patriarchs' dirty secret. I couldn't make sense of the third story Aurora soooo that's that. In Aguantando a mother and her two

Osondu Nnamdi Awarakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00828719217990670598noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5748837783235170029.post-28177648100400498472018-02-20T18:32:00.000-06:002018-02-27T14:17:31.740-06:00

The African American family at the center of Jesmyn Ward's Sing, Unburied, Sing is broken and hurt in many different ways. Pop, the family's patriarch, is burdened by a secret from his time in prison even as he tries to be present for his grandkids and his dying wife. She's stuck in the bedroom slowly surrendering to cancer that her grandson Jojo says has "...dried her up and hollowed her out

Osondu Nnamdi Awarakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00828719217990670598noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5748837783235170029.post-57461787354182411552018-02-17T16:36:00.000-06:002018-02-20T16:24:26.196-06:00

It wasn't until January of 2017 that I paid attention to BET's TV series Being Mary Jane. My cousins were surfing Netflix for entertainment options while I read a novel on the living room couch that first week of January. I fell asleep while reading and when I woke up Gabrielle Union was on the screen looking gorgeous, bourgeois and pissed off. She was mad at an equally gorgeous man, the actor

Osondu Nnamdi Awarakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00828719217990670598noreply@blogger.com40tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5748837783235170029.post-24961778519008779662018-02-16T18:56:00.001-06:002018-02-16T18:56:37.023-06:00

Another year = Another Black History Month = Another month of celebrating books by black authors! If this is your first time visiting this blog catch up on my inaugural bookish celebration of Black History Month HERE. I originally intended to have four book picks for every celebration of Black History Month but I almost didn't make it this year. In fact I'm not even in the clear yet until I

Osondu Nnamdi Awarakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00828719217990670598noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5748837783235170029.post-40697534100041029302018-01-01T12:50:00.001-06:002018-12-25T21:53:40.877-06:00

If one meme could sum up my life in 2017 it would be the Kylie Jenner one where she talks about a year of realizing stuff. I literally realized so much stuff in the year 2017. Some of it was good and some of it was bad. I moved out of my parents house permanently in January to a city five hours away so I could work full time. It has been a lot of work but I'm really grateful for every experience

Osondu Nnamdi Awarakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00828719217990670598noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5748837783235170029.post-68463238594457529712017-12-31T23:27:00.002-06:002018-01-11T00:17:06.834-06:00

Another year, another Anthology from the Caine Prize for African Writing. Reading the 2015 Caine Prize Anthology was such a good experience I decided to review it every year in December. This year's winner of the Caine Prize for African Writing is Sudanese author Bushra al-Fadil with his short story, The Story of the Girl Whose Birds Flew Away. The 2017 Anthology contains five

Osondu Nnamdi Awarakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00828719217990670598noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5748837783235170029.post-40223125260396971392017-11-20T21:52:00.001-06:002017-11-20T21:52:55.134-06:00

FARAFINA released three new books this November! - What It Means When a Man Falls From the Sky (Nigerian Edition) by Lesley Nneka Arimah - How to Win Elections in Africa by Chude Jideonwo and Adebola Williams - Anike Eleko by Sandra Joubeaud and Alaba Onajin FARAFINA is an imprint of Kachifo Ltd and on November 13th it released these three titles on online platforms and in selected bookstores

Osondu Nnamdi Awarakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00828719217990670598noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5748837783235170029.post-43646386882081528742017-06-07T23:58:00.001-05:002017-06-12T23:13:22.880-05:00

Eyo's a young girl who lives with her parents and two siblings in Ajegunle, Lagos. Early every morning she and her little brother head out to hawk ice-water in Lagos traffic to supplement their family's income. They battle heat, street bullies, purse snatchers, lecherous perverts and head home at the end of the day where she, barely ten years old, fights off sexual advances from men many times

Osondu Nnamdi Awarakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00828719217990670598noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5748837783235170029.post-3130397455168918112017-05-27T19:06:00.002-05:002017-05-27T19:06:31.090-05:00

The Kasahorow Writers' Fellowship is a four month program for writers that includes customized writing skills training and guidance to plan, write and publish books. It's all done online thus guaranteeing participants more flexibility. During those four months fellows submit 6 - 7 online assignments, and take part in one on one calls with peers, and Kasahorow staff. Fellows also build their

Osondu Nnamdi Awarakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00828719217990670598noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5748837783235170029.post-44854013997191335502017-04-30T13:37:00.004-05:002017-04-30T16:24:58.093-05:00

What It Means When a Man Falls From the Sky is a collection of twelve exceptional short stories by new author, Lesley Nneka Arimah. It begins with The Future Looks Good, a tale spanning three generations of women, then continues with War Stories, Wild, Light, Second Chances, Windfalls, Who Will Greet You at Home, Buchi's Girls, What It Means When A Man Falls From the Sky, Glory, What Is a

Osondu Nnamdi Awarakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00828719217990670598noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5748837783235170029.post-45893188987929001852017-04-16T16:17:00.001-05:002017-04-17T16:46:42.817-05:00

Resemblance is a new novel authored by Nigeria's Afolabi Opanubi. Bloggers will recognize him as the man behind the captivating blog site, Through My Eyes. It was his platform and a space where he shared short stories and think pieces one of which is The Tufiakwa Syndrome, one of my favorite pieces written by him. Afolabi disappeared for a while from the blogsphere and now he has

Osondu Nnamdi Awarakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00828719217990670598noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5748837783235170029.post-85238052242251643972017-03-07T23:59:00.004-06:002017-03-16T10:14:05.827-05:00

Ruby Bell is stark raving mad. She walks the streets barefoot, pees on herself in public, howls nightly in the forest as she battles demons and digs furiously into tree roots. Hers is a cautionary tale repeated often in a small religious African-American community located in Liberty, Texas. A tale of the wages of a life of sin and immorality. She used to be gorgeous, she used to be the object of

Osondu Nnamdi Awarakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00828719217990670598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5748837783235170029.post-17862819418464929812017-02-28T21:49:00.004-06:002017-02-28T22:28:44.584-06:00

Today's the last day of February! Wherever you are I hope you found some way to celebrate our rich black history. On the 1st of February I announced that I would devote this month to reviewing novels by African Americans. It's a blog tradition that I hope to continue well into the future. I had hoped that I could review four novels but I was only able to review three. This has been a

Osondu Nnamdi Awarakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00828719217990670598noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5748837783235170029.post-62423975756200576592017-02-21T02:16:00.000-06:002018-01-01T12:03:01.301-06:00

Margot works as a front desk clerk at the Palm Star Resort in Jamaica. During the day she answers the phones, welcomes guests, oversees the hotel staff and sees to it that guests are comfortable and well taken care of. At night Margot heads to the rooms of guests who earlier in the day put in orders for sex using code words like "sundae" and "ackee". She has dreams of rising past her current job

Osondu Nnamdi Awarakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00828719217990670598noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5748837783235170029.post-66107983892236960102017-02-14T23:59:00.001-06:002017-02-19T19:36:06.906-06:00

The Mothers begins titillatingly with scandalous gossip. Nadia Turner, daughter and only child of Robert and Elisa, got impregnated by the pastor's son and she went to the abortion clinic downtown to rid herself of the baby. The rumor is told to us by "the mothers" a circle of wizened old women who have lived all their lives in Oceanside, a small community in California, USA. The mothers have

Osondu Nnamdi Awarakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00828719217990670598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5748837783235170029.post-60993344013855206322017-02-07T22:51:00.003-06:002017-02-07T22:57:14.854-06:00

Hattie, her mom and her two sisters fled the south and traveled up north to Philadelphia to start life all over when Hattie was fifteen years old. The difference in racial relations is immediately evident to Hattie when she gets off the train at Broad Street Station, Philadelphia and so she vows never to return to the south. Not long after their arrival Hattie gets impregnated by August and she

Osondu Nnamdi Awarakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00828719217990670598noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5748837783235170029.post-83755929968726584102017-02-01T23:59:00.004-06:002017-02-02T07:55:55.572-06:00

Black History Month is an annual celebration of black history and accomplishments. It's a tradition that originated from the fact that the contributions of blacks to the United States of America were being omitted in history books. It was a disturbing trend that many African Americans noted and spoke out against. Carter G. Woodson was one of those frustrated by the omissions and so with the

Osondu Nnamdi Awarakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00828719217990670598noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5748837783235170029.post-6748931921814446222017-01-29T19:38:00.002-06:002017-02-01T22:56:26.178-06:00

In Chibundu Onuzo's Welcome to Lagos two soldiers Chike and Yemi flee their army base because they can no longer continue with the atrocities being committed by their platoon. They desert their base on foot and under the cover of darkness with no definite plans on where they're fleeing to. Along the way they pick up a bunch of characters all of whom are fleeing something in their lives. The

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