“Mandela was not the only head of state taken in by Koagne. Le king kept snapshots of himself with many a man of power, among them Mobutu Sese Seko and Denis Sassou Nguesso […] He took Mobutu for 15 million dollars. Blaise Compaoré of Burkina Faso lost 40 million to him. Sassou, Etienne Eyadéma of Togo, several high officials of Gabon, Tanzania and Kenya, a member of the Spanish government and an ex-operative of the Israeli Mossad were bamboozled as well.” – Dominique Malaquais (Blood Money: A Douala Chronicle).
Bantu Serenade by Ntone Edjabe (featuring Nah-ee-lah) (read excerpt)
Santu Mofokeng: Trajectory of a street photographer (part1) (read excerpt)
Binyavanga Wainaina: Hell In Bed With Mrs Peprah (read excerpt)
Dominique Malaquais: Lindela (the winnie suite) (read excerpt)
Boubacar Boris Diop: Myriem (read excerpt)
Cover:
Neo Muyanga
The Text: Osiris Rising, Armah's sixth novel, is structured after Africa's oldest narrative, the Isis-Osiris myth cycle. Traveling to Africa on a search for life work and love, Ast, an African American scholar, gets immersed in history as living continuity. In a pillaged society where slaveraiders' heirs masquerade as aid donors, and colonies are disguised as nations, Ast still finds her home in a quiet community working to bring the continent's people together. The love of friends focused on the making of an African future absorbs her pained consciousness of a world destroyed.