Beyoncé is not shining a light on African literature – it's the other way round

Everyone has celebrated how Beyoncé’s celebrity power has elevated Warsan Shire’s work to global attention. But African literature should not only attain universal value when endorsed by the west, argues Ainehi Edoro

By Ainehi Edoro for Brittle Paper, part of the Guardian Books Network

When Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was featured on Beyoncé’s track, she became, according to elle.com, “Beyoncé’s Favorite Novelist.” In the months following the collaboration, there was much talk about how being linked to Beyoncé had somehow upgraded Adichie into a truly global celebrity. Lemonade shows Beyoncé looking to Africa yet again for its wealth of literary production – and sadly, the discourse hasn’t changed.

The media seems confused about Beyoncé’s investment in Warsan Shire – they have interpreted it as artistic generosity

Lemonade has become proof of the powerful influence that African literature is having on global aesthetic forms

Related: Warsan Shire: the Somali-British poet quoted by Beyoncé in Lemonade

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