Africa: Stories in the 55 Podcast
1) Camaraderie and Irish attitudes in Nigerian writer’s short story collection
Poignant, upsetting, at times quite funny, the short story collection This Hostel Life, from Nigerian novelist Melatu Uchenna Okorie, elicits a response. Okorie’s stories stem from her life and the li...Show More
Camaraderie and Irish attitudes in Nigerian writer’s short story collection
17:00 | Sep 25th, 2019
2) Helon Habila's novel 'Travelers' explores the lives of Africans in exile
In Nigerian author Helon Habila’s latest novel, “Travelers”, Habila brings African expat and migrant stories to life in a number of short stories that are woven into a complex narrative of safety, ide...Show More
3) Contrasting images of his native Nigeria in Nnamdi Ehirin's debut novel, The Prince of Monkeys
In April's Stories from the 55 podcast, Laura Angela Bagnetto speaks to Nnamdi Ehirin from Nigeria about a coming-of-age story called The Prince of Monkeys. The author also reads an extract from his w...Show More
4) South African novelist Mphuthumi Ntabeni shines a light on the Xhosa narrative
In this month's Africa: Stories in the 55, South African writer Mphuthumi Ntabeni describes his twenty-year journey into the mind of Maqoma, a chief in the Xhosa community who lived in the 1800s. Ntab...Show More
South African novelist Mphuthumi Ntabeni shines a light on the Xhosa narrative
12:13 | Mar 27th, 2019
5) Life and sensuality in a refugee camp in Suliaman Addonia's "Silence is My Mother Tongue"
In "Silence is My Mother Tongue", the latest novel by Eritrean-Ethiopian writer Sulaiman Addonia, teen Saba and her brother Hagos arrive at a refugee camp in Sudan, where she is determined to continue...Show More
6) Somali writer Ubah Cristina Ali Farah speaks of trauma intertwined with beauty in her story "Jujube"
In this month’s Africa: Stories in the 55, Somali-Italian writer Ubah Cristina Ali Farah speaks about her character, Ayan, a Somali refugee seeking asylum. Ayan tells part of her own story that may no...Show More
7) Zimbabwean novelist Tsitsi Dangarembga explores post-war trauma in "This Mournable Body"
The lasting aftereffects of the Liberation War on Zimbabwe's society creates the backdrop for Tsitsi Dangarembga's new novel, "This Mournable Body". The story is set in 1999, 10 years after the war, t...Show More
8) The perils for Zimbabweans crossing the border into South Africa personified in Sue Nyathi's new novel, The Gold-Diggers
In this month's Africa: Stories in the 55, Zimbabwean author Sue Nyathi delves into the dangers of crossing into South Africa illegally in the hopes of finding work and a better life. The Gold-Diggers...Show More
9) Honoring those who lived through Zimbabwe's Gukurahundi in Novuyo Rosa Tshuma's novel, House of Stone
In Novuyo Rosa Tshuma's debut novel, House of Stone, readers are regaled with a story of the Mlambo family, as told by Zamani, their lodger and a master manipulator. In his quest to re-write his own p...Show More
10) Kenyan writer Kiprop Kimutai's short story speaks about the privilege of wealth in a queer environment
In his short story "The Man at the Bridge", Kenyan writer Kiprop Kimutai explores the conflicted feelings of a closeted gay man-- a story that has garnered the 2018 Gerald Kraak Fiction prize. RFI's A...Show More