News & Events, December '09

AFRICAN CITIES READER II: Mobilities & Fixtures

Call for submissions for AFRICAN CITIES READER II: Mobilities & Fixtures: "It seems apparent to us that African cities are quintessentially defined by incessant mobilities. And as people make their way in cities that are incapable of dealing with their presence, they continuously come to terms with the fact that the way of the city is a game of hide-and-seek..." Details here.

New books, literature & poetry

If you want the low-down and high-down on the delicate, brutal, often surreal reality of South Africa, Zakes Mda is your man. In Black Diamond he combines splendid detachment and a rampant imagination to construct a blackly comic, cinematic anatomy of a country in thrall to its own lusts, loves, betrayals, scandals, stereotypes, myths and history. Read Qwen Ansell's review here. And an interview with Mda here.

"If nostalgia is about present anxieties, what are these concerns for me? What is it about the present that makes me cherish shattered fragments of memory?" At once moving, instructive and slyly funny, Jacob Dlamini's Native Nostalgia combines multiple interdisciplinary perspectives to argue against turning black people into 'the masses' for political ends. Read an excerpt here.

New books from Malthouse Press, Nigeria: Highlife Music in West Africa by Sonny Oti focuses on the social, economic and political aspects of the genre ; and renowned poet, Tanure Ojaide publishes a new novel titled Matters of the Moment.

Jude Dibia, author of Walking With Shadows (2005) and Unbridled (2006) is working on a new novel. Read an excerpt from The Visit here.

Ian Rankin, Michael Frayn, Claire Tomalin, Geoff Dyer and Shrabani Basu are all now confirmed for Lit Sutra activity taking place in January and February 2010 in India and Sri Lanka. Visit the Lit Sutra website.

Wasafiri's Editorial Board and staff have compiled a list of influential books (mostly) published in the last 25 years.

“Got my thoughts stapled to my tongue / so all I drop is bung / crease&shined/ muff-buffed/ trance-verse-tightened up / pre-apartheid-historic / caught between kgositsile’s gravedigger precision text / & celan’s concentration camp black milk / I house them cemetery-dead-gold-heaven stratospheric.” Lesego Rampolokeng’s Bantu Ghost: A stream of (black) unconsciousness is available from Mehlo-maya. Read a review by Mphutlane wa Bofelo here.

A Call for Contributions to a book of Critical Essays on the Work of Chenjerai Hove to be published by Africa World Press in association with Weaver Press. Send an abstract (up to 500 words), and a brief bio to the editors by 15 January 2010. More here.

Badilisha! Poetry has launched an online poetry radio station which will produce weekly podcasts of poets from Africa and the Diaspora. Weekly shows will be presented by South African writer and performance poet Malika Ndlovu. Detail on how to Submit Poetry for Podcasting on Badilisha Poetry Radio here.

Comics, art, music & film

Call for entries to the Africa e Mediterraneo Award for Best Unpublished Comic Strip by an African Author. Deadline is April 30th, 2010. More at www.africacomics.net.

Steve McQueen to make Fela Kuti biopic: Turner prize-winning artist and film-maker, who recently gained critical acclaim for debut feature on IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands' life, will direct and write a movie about the Afrobeat creator and Nigerian activist. McQueen is writing the script together wit Nigeria author Biyi Bandele. More here. Also check Lemi Ghariokwu: Afro Art Beat, a profile on the artist behind Fela's album art.

The exhibition We want Miles - Miles Davis le jazz face a sa legende is on until the 17th January 2010 at the Musee de la musique in La Villette, in Paris, France.

Thami Mnyele & Medu Art Ensemble Retrospective brings together the myriad artworks exhibited at the and the stories of the original members of Medu who created them in a generously illustrated book. Get it here.

Dak'Art is taking place in May 2010 and the call for artists is still on, deadline 31 December. Then FOCUS10, Basel, June 2010, the art fair dedicated to contemporary African art, has developed its programme into three projects FOCUS Fair, FOCUS Stage and FOCUS Off. The deadline has been extended and the organisers are keen to hear from galleries, curators and artists willing to exhibit or submit special projects. More here.

After a two year hiatus, India's international festival for moving image art - EXPERIMENTA – now in its 6th edition, returns to Bangalore , December 17-20 at Jagaa; the Creative Common Ground, Samuha; the Artist Initiative and Collective and Gallery SKE. Detailed programme schedule at www.filterindia.com

Durban International Film Festival is calling for features, short films and documentaries entries for with a focus on films from South Africa and Africa. Films produced in 2009 and 2010 will be considered. Deadline is 31 March 2010. More here.

Watch clips from Fig Trees a documentary opera about the struggles of AIDS activists Tim McCaskell of Toronto and Zackie Achmat of Capetown, as they fight for access to treatment drugs. The film explores the meaning of pills, saints and activism and features Gertrude Stein, a singing albino squirrel and St. Teresa of Avila. More here.

RIP Mbella Sonne Dipoko & Dennis Brutus

“So let them be scared of my look, of my beard, of my head of hair. They are just philistines who are afraid of originality. They wish to be caricatures of Europeans. When they are scared of a mere beard, what would these people do when war comes, when the horizon suddenly begins to sneeze smoke and spit flames? Who will save the nation? For only the courageous can defend the colors of a country.” Rest in peace Mbella Sonne Dipoko author of A few Nights and Days, 1969, Because of Woman, 1969, Black and White in Love, 1972.

Dennis Brutus (1924-2009), poet and activist, passed away on December 26, aged 85. Obituaries here, here and here. Listen to a podcast that Victor Dlamini recorded with him in 2007.