My Beauty Best Teacher

Image via WikipediaChika Unigwe writing in the Guardian:

When, on 28 November – after Ivory Coast's elections had been postponed several times by the then president, Laurent Gbagbo – Ivorians took to the polls, there was a very real expectation that Gbagbo's government had come to an end. Unfortunately, they had miscalculated Gbagbo's determination to hang on to the post he had held since 2000 and which he – and his cohorts – see as his birthright...[continue reading]

Chika Unigwe writing in the Guardian:

Image by dan mogford via Flickr

In a society where the pursuit of money takes precedence over everything, one can expect a decline in culture and in the quality of cultural production.Regrettably, this is going on. People are reading, but it's a different sort of literature: self-help books published mainly by evangelical pastors eager to win souls over to the gospel of prosperity. There is art on the street, but it is splashes of paint on trucks and buses, outsized drawings (usually religious, with a blonde Jesus). There is nothing of the grandeur and quality of Ife art in it...Perhaps this is too pessimistic. I was witness in Nigeria to the collective sense of hope in a people who, like the phoenix, keep rising from the ashes. There is a renaissance in Nigerian literature...

In 3QuarksDaily Tolu Ogunlesi on a re-energized literary scene in Nigeria:

Image via Wikipedia

Lagos is suddenly a hot new destination for writers from all over the world – courtesy of the exploits and efforts of writers like Adichie. Her four-year-old annual Creative Writing workshop, sponsored by Nigeria’s oldest and biggest beer company (which before now appeared to be more at home with sponsoring music festivals and talent hunts) has brought Jason Cowley, Nathan Englander, Binyavanga Wainaina, Jackie Kay, Doreen Baingana and Dave Eggers to Lagos, to facilitate writing sessions. This year Ama Ata Aidoo, Niq Mhlongo...

First of all, get rid of any hang-ups you might have about Africa being a continent. It is a country, and so when people ask if you speak African, or eat African, do not get all worked up trying to explain how a homogenous Africa only exists in a lazy imagination. And certainly do not go the complicated route of explaining about how a country like Nigeria has over three hundred different languages. (Languages‌ Not dialects‌ Are you sure‌) Do everyone a favour and smile and say Yes or No as the spirit moves you. It will save you some frustration. Believe me, I know. It will also save your interrogator some bafflement. If you want to be humorous though, you can ask your interrogator if they speak European. Be prepared for some lessons on history though. Europe is a continent of history. Unlike that country, Africa, which is too dark for any sense of history to permeate...[continue reading]