Helon Habila featured at Afrolit Sans Frontières Season 5 from Centreville, USA on Sunday, August 2, 2020. He was hosted by Tolu Daniel.
Afrolit Sans Frontières, a virtual literary festival for writers of African origin, was founded by author and publisher Zukiswa Wanner as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic international lockdowns. The festival format is two sessions a day on Instagram Live with an artist moderated by a host who also fields questions from audience members. There have been four editions; Season 1 from March 23-30; Season 2 from April 20-27; Season 3 from May 25 – June 1; and Season 4 from June 29-July 6.
Season 5 kicked off on July 27 and festival goers have so far interacted with Lerato Mogoatlhe in Johannesburg, South Africa, Joe Khamisi in Texas, USA, Frances Mensah Williams in London, UK, Conceição Evaristo in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Kayo Chingonyi in Leeds, UK, L.L. McKinney in Kansas City, USA, Gauz in Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire, and Fiston Mwanza Mujila in Graz, Austria, Ondjaki in Luanda, Angola, and Rodrigo França in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The first writer for the penultimate day of the festival was Ashley Hickson-Lovence in London, UK before Helon Habila wrapped up proceedings from Centreville, VA, USA. Helon Habila who teaches creative writing at George Mason University is the author of four novels, the latest of which is Travelers, about African migrants in Europe. He is the author of the nonfiction book, The Chibok Girls, and editor of the Granta Book of African Short Story. He is a contributing editor to the VQR. His many awards include The Virginia Library Fiction Prize and the Windham-Campbell Prize for Fiction.
You can watch the discussion between the host Tolu Daniel and his guest Helon Habila in the below video.
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