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Afro Book Club

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An international reading club appreciating books by authors of African descent in the continent and in the diaspora.

Currently Reading

Black Indians: A Hidden Heritage

William Loren Katz

Start date: November 25, 2014

Finish date: December 31, 2014

Discussion: Book Discussions

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Africa39: New Writing from Africa South of the Sahara

Ellah Wakatama Allfrey (Editor),

Wole Soyinka (Preface)

Start date: November 25, 2014

Finish date: December 31, 2014

Discussion: Book Discussions

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* Afro Book Club on Twitter & Facebook
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last updated Mar 27, 2016 06:28AM

CHECK THIS OUT - FREE EBOOK
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last updated Apr 04, 2021 07:25AM

COMING SOON - The Yard Girl II - Miranda's Story
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last updated Feb 12, 2021 02:44PM

Eugenie Laverne Mitchell - Interview with Write2Be Magazine
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last updated Jan 18, 2021 01:42PM

Beasts of No Nation Being Adapted to Film
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last updated Oct 22, 2018 07:47AM

Free book giveway - Step Back in Time to Ancient Kush
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last updated Mar 27, 2016 07:01AM

Demons in Cold Water - free giveaway
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last updated Mar 12, 2016 11:18PM

Check out "Valentine's Day Anthology", published by Ankara Press!!
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last updated Feb 14, 2015 09:13AM

A Year of African Literature and Film in Lists
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last updated Dec 29, 2014 08:25AM

Win a book or books of your choice (up to $20 value) US & INT
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last updated Aug 19, 2014 08:09AM

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* Book Reviewers and Bloggers Welcome
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last updated Oct 09, 2019 10:07AM

BOOK REVIEWS
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last updated Oct 09, 2019 10:42AM

Black History Month 2015: Celebrating some amazing book covers by brilliant Black authors!
By Darkowaa · 1 post · 30 views

last updated Feb 08, 2015 03:29PM

this book is an experience, not an artistic acrobatic exercise meant for viewing to remind you that it exists.
By Jo · 1 post · 19 views

last updated Oct 03, 2014 11:50AM

James Murua Reviews
By ConnorD · 44 posts · 37 views

last updated Aug 15, 2014 05:31AM

Mary Okeke Reviews
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last updated May 19, 2014 01:56AM

Beverly's Reviews
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last updated Jan 16, 2014 03:00AM

ReadEng. Didi's Press
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last updated Dec 10, 2013 09:20AM

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Helen Oyeyemi speaks about Boy Snow Bird

Edwidge Danticat in Haiti

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Bookshelf (showing 1-12 of 22)

A Bit of Difference

Sefi Atta

Date read

Nov 22, 2014

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The Atlantic Sound

Caryl Phillips

Date read

Nov 22, 2014

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Men We Reaped: A Memoir

Jesmyn Ward

Date read

Oct 14, 2014

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Zenzele: A Letter for My Daughter

J. Nozipo Maraire

Date read

Oct 14, 2014

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Mr Loverman

Bernardine Evaristo

Date read

Sep 14, 2014

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Waiting: A Novel of Uganda's Hidden War

Goretti Kyomuhendo,

Margaret Daymond (Afterword)

Date read

Sep 14, 2014

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Season of Migration to the North

Tayeb Salih,

Denys Johnson-Davies (Translator)

Date read

Aug 14, 2014

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Boy, Snow, Bird

Helen Oyeyemi

Date read

Jul 15, 2014

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Krik? Krak!

Edwidge Danticat

Date read

Jul 14, 2014

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The Blacker the Berry...

Wallace Thurman

Date read

Jun 15, 2014

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Coconut

Kopano Matlwa

Date read

Jun 15, 2014

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Let The Dead Lie (Detective Emmanuel Cooper, #2)

Malla Nunn

Date read

May 15, 2014

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His physique and physical strength earned him the name by which many referred to him. Big Bill Neidjie was the last last surviving speaker of the Gaagudju language, an indigenous language from his birth place and place he called home, northern Kakadu, Australia.

It was tradition is many indigenous Australian cultures for the ways and secrets of the different tribes to be passed down from generation to generation. This process of tradition dissemination was strictly to be done through initiation, and therefore protected the secrets of the culture to those who were apart of it.

Big Bill, having realized that he may be the last living Gagudju initiate decided to break the tradition so that his tradition could live on. He did so by entrusting some of the custodianship of the tribal lands to his Son and also related his stories of his culture to anthropologists and later published two books ("Gaguoju Man" & "Story about feeling") about his passion for the land and the importance of managing and maintaining the land in the traditional ways. He did this in hope that, one day, his culture might thrive once again, and his grandchildren, or their grandchildren, might pick up the threads once more.

He died on the 23rd of May 2002.

(Information sourced from Wikipedia)

The Winners for the December 2013 Group Reads are:

The Sabi - Diane Brown (African Author - South Africa)
Buck : A Memoir - MK Asante ( Diaspora African Author - USA)

Nawal El Saadawi is a leading Egyptian feminist, sociologist, medical doctor and militant writer on Arab women's problems. She is one of the most widely translated contemporary Egyptian writers, with her work available in twelve languages.

Since she began to write over 25 years ago, El Saadawi's books (27 in all) have concentrated on women, particularly Arab women, their sexuality and legal status. From the start, her writings were considered controversial and dangerous for the society, and were banished in Egypt. As a result, El Saadawi was forced to publish her works in Beirut, Lebanon. In 1972, her first work of non-fiction, Women and Sex, which as the title suggests, dealt with the highly taboo subject of women and sexuality, and also the sensitive subjects of politics and religion. This publication evoked the anger of highly placed political and theological authorities, and the Ministry of Health was pressured into dismissing her as director of public health. Under similar pressures she lost her post as Chief Editor of a health journal and as Assistant General Secretary in the Medical Association in Egypt.

In 1977, she published her most famous work, The Hidden Face of Eve, which covered a host of topics relative to Arab women such as aggression against female children and female genital mutilation, prostitution, sexual relationships, marriage and divorce and Islamic fundamentalism.

From 1979-180 El Saadawi was the United Nations Advisor for the Women's Program in Africa (ECA) and the Middle East (ECWA).

Later in 1980, as a culmination of the long war she had fought for Egyptian women's social and intellectual freedom, an activity that had closed all avenues of official jobs to her, she was imprisoned under the Sadat regime, for alleged "crimes against the state." El Saadawi stated "I was arrested because I believed Sadat. He said there is democracy and we have a multi-party system and you can criticize. So I started criticizing his policy and I landed in jail." In spite of her imprisonment, El Saadawi continued to fight against oppression. El Saadawi formed the Arab Women's Solidarity Association in 1981. The AWSA was the first legal, independent feminist organization in Egypt. The organization has 500 members locally and more than 2,000 internationally. The Association holds international conferences and seminars, publishes a magazine and has started income-generating projects for women in rural areas. The AWSA was banned in 1991 after criticizing US involvement in the Gulf War, which El Saadawi felt should have been solved among the Arabs.

Although she was denied pen and paper, El Saadawi continued to write in prison, using a "stubby black eyebrow pencil" and "a small roll of old and tattered toilet paper." She was released in 1982, and in 1983 she published Memoirs from the Women's Prison, in which she continued her bold attacks on the repressive Egyptian government. In the afterword to her memoirs, she notes the corrupt nature of her country's government, the dangers of publishing under such authoritarian conditions and her determination to continue to write the truth:

"Danger has been a part of my life ever since I picked up a pen and wrote. Nothing is more perilous than truth in a world that lies. Nothing is more perilous than knowledge in a world that has considered knowledge a sin since Adam and Eve... There is no power in the world that can strip my writings from me."

Even after her release from prison, El Saadawi's life was threatened by those who opposed her work, mainly Islamic fundamentalists, and armed guards were stationed outside her house in Giza for several years until she left the country to be a visiting professor at North American universities. El Saadawi was the writer in residence at Duke University's Asian and African Languages Department from 1993-1996. She also taught at Washington State University in Seattle.

El Saadawi continues to devote her time to being a writer,jour

Born 1958, in Rio de Janeiro Paulo Lins is a Brazilian author.
Lins grew up in Rio de Janeiro and at the age of seven moved to the Cidade de Deus favela. He escaped the cycle of violence to become a successful writer. He published his novel City of God in 1997, which was adapted into the 2002 film City of God. (Wikipedia)

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