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Join our “Nairobi: A City in Words” Tour
You are welcome to an immersive one-day literary tour through Kenya’s capital, curated by literary expert James Murua, on Monday, June 30, 2025. At the end of June, the Nairobi LitFest, the African Literature Association Conference, the Sigana Storytelling Conference, and other events will be held in Nairobi. For those visiting Kenya’s capital for the…
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Zukiswa Wanner’s Brazilian tour starts June 14
Author, editor, and publisher Zukiswa Wanner will make her first visit to South America with a tour of Brazil starting on Saturday, June 14, 2025. Zukiswa Wanner is the author of the novels The Madams (2006), Behind Every Successful Man (2008), Men of the South (2010), London Cape Town Joburg (2014), and Love Marry Kill…
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Soma Nami’s African Book Fair 2025 starts August 7
Soma Nami’s African Book Fair 2025, with the theme “African Stories in a Connected World”, will be held in Nairobi, Kenya, from August 7 – 10, 2025. Soma Nami Books was founded by Muthoni Muiruri and Wendy Njoroge with their first branch in Nairobi, Kenya, in 2021, followed by another in 2024. They built their…
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Ignyte Awards 2025 finalists announced
The Ignyte Awards 2025 finalists, the fifth edition of the award scheme, were announced on Monday, June 9, 2025. Fiyah is a quarterly speculative fiction magazine featuring stories by and about Black people of the African Diaspora based in the USA, founded in 2016. In 2021, they announced that they would host FIYAHCON for Black,…
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Book Digest: Goretti Kyomuhendo, Yrsa Daley Ward, Damon Young, Alison Donnell
Our regular Book Digest segment spotlights new books by Goretti Kyomuhendo, Yrsa Daley Ward, Damon Young, and Alison Donnell. Promises by Goretti Kyomuhendo Publisher: Catalyst PressDate: May 6, 2025Genre: FictionLanguage: EnglishWhere to find it: Catalyst Press Goretti Kyomuhendo Goretti Kyomuhendo is one of Uganda’s leading novelists and founding director of the African Writers Trust. She…
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St Lucia author and academic Dr Hazel Simmons-McDonald has passed away
St Lucia author, linguist, and academic Dr Hazel Simmons-McDonald passed away in Barbados on Sunday, June 8, 2025. Dr Hazel Simmons-McDonald was born in Lucia in 1947 and studied at the University of the West Indies in Jamaica, graduating with a degree in education in 1972, with a special focus on English. She then attended…
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Iris Mwanza for Lagos on June 21
Iris Mwanza will present her debut novel, The Lion’s Den, in Lagos, Nigeria, on Saturday, June 21, 2025. Iris Mwanza is a Zambian-American international lawyer, gender equality advocate, and a rising literary voice. With degrees from Cornell and Johns Hopkins, her career spans global institutions like the World Bank and the Gates Foundation. Her debut…
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Foday Mannah on Bloody Scotland Debut Prize 2025 shortlist
Foday Mannah’s debut novel is on the Bloody Scotland Scottish Crime Debut Prize 2025 shortlist, announced in Scotland on Friday, June 6, 2025. Bloody Scotland is a Scottish international crime writing festival founded by Tartan Noir writers Lin Anderson and Alex Gray, held annually in Stirling, Scotland since 2012. The festival awards are the McIlvanney…
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Literary Laddership 2025 Recipients announced
Anisha Namutow and Rigwell Addison Asiedu were named the recipients of The Literary Laddership for Emerging African Authors 2025 on Tuesday, June 3, 2025. In 2022, Nigerian fantasy, science fiction, and speculative writer and academic Suyi Davies Okungbowa announced “The Literary Laddership for Emerging African Authors” fellowship. It was aimed at supporting, elevating, and connecting…
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Macondo Literary Festival 2025 for Nairobi from September 19
The Macondo Literary Festival 2025, with the theme “Chronicles and Currents,” will be held in Nairobi, Kenya, from September 19 – 21, 2025. The Macondo Literary Festival, organised by the Macondo Book Society, hosts panels, readings, performances of poetry and other art forms, and an epic closing party in Nairobi since its first edition in…
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Canisia Lubrin wins Danuta Gleed Literary Award 2025
Canisia Lubrin’s novel Code Noir was announced the Danuta Gleed Literary Award 2025 winner in Toronto, Canada, on Thursday, June 5, 2025. The Danuta Gleed Literary Award, first awarded in 1998, recognizes the best debut short fiction collection by a Canadian author in English. It was founded by John Gleed in honour of his late…
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New York Black and African Literature Festival for September
The New York Black and African Literature Festival, with the theme “Radical Solidarities,” will be held in the US city from September 5 – 7, 2025. The New York Black and African Literature Festival, a new literary event set to take place in the United States in September, was announced on June 4. More than…
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Festival International Du Livre Gabonais et Des Arts 2025 winners announced
Fidèle Goulyziazia, Patrick Mbonguila Mukinzitsi, and Annie-Flore Assenguet Yogoulou Joly won at the Festival International Du Livre Gabonais et Des Arts 2025 in Libreville, Gabon, on May 31, 2025. Festival international du livre Gabonais et des arts (English: Gabonese International Festival of Books and the Arts), popularly known as FILIGA, was first held in 2022.…
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Afrolution Festival 2025 for Berlin starting June 19
The Afrolution Festival 2025, with the theme “African/-Diasporic Pluriverses II: Transnational [Re]Imaginings of Resistance & Resilience,” will be held in Berlin, Germany, from June 19 – 22, 2025. Afrolution is a festival with literature at its core, organised by Each One, Teach One, that has hosted many African and Afro-German leading writers in Berlin, Germany,…
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Book Digest: Abdulrazak Gurnah, José Eduardo Agualusa, Laura Pegram, Adam Oyebanji
Our regular Book Digest segment spotlights new books by Abdulrazak Gurnah, José Eduardo Agualusa, Laura Pegram, and Adam Oyebanji. Dhulma by Abdulrazak Gurnah Publisher: Mkuki Na NyotaDate: May 31, 2025Genre: FictionLanguage: Kiswahili (translated from English by Dr. Ida Hadjivayanis)Where to find it: Mkuki Na Nyota Abdulrazak Gurnah Abdulrazak Gurnah is the 2021 winner of the…
