Welcome to new members!!... and introduction... if you want

[Kswaxman]

Muphyn wrote: "Just wanted to say hello and welcome to the group to all people who have just join!

Feel free to start discussing any book dealing with Africa at any time, or join in the discussion already underw..."

[Kswaxman]

Hi. I am excited to find this group, and to read some of the books you are discussing. I am a surgeon who has worked in South Sudan with Doctors Without Borders. I just published a book about my time in a Dinka village in South Sudan, called Ajak's Song. I would be happy to discuss Ajak's Song with anyone who is interested.
Thanks
Ken Waxman

[Marieke]

Kswaxman wrote: "Hi. I am excited to find this group, and to read some of the books you are discussing. I am a surgeon who has worked in South Sudan with Doctors Without Borders. I just published a book about my ..."

Welcome aboard! I hope you enjoy it with us.

Sounds like you must have had amazing experiences in your line of work. If you'd like to introduce your book and start a discussion, we have a spot for member authors here:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group...

Just let me or Muphyn know if you need any help setting up a personal thread there!

[Kswaxman]

Thank you vey much. I will post there.
Appreciate the help

[Laura]

Hi I'm new to this group and would just like to say how happy I am that I have found you! I have a great passion for Africa and specifically East Africa, where I lived for a year. I have just downloaded the May book and looking forward to joining in on the debate. I wanted to do this earlier but unfortunately I could not get a copy of Under the Frangipani on time. I live in a small town in Italy and hence rely on the e book versions. Does anyone else have my problem? Thank you to the moderators!

[Marieke]

Welcome, Laura!

Yes, often members do have trouble accessing the "official" selections for group reads. We are very widely dispersed in the world! :)

But this year we started encouraging side reads to help with participation or enhance participation when members can't get a book or aren't interested in that particular book and would like to read a different one, or would like to read extra books for any of our projects. So feel free to select different books when you can't get the official one! :)

[Laura]

Thank you! I will definitely look into the side projects. I d be interested to know if any of us are in Italy! Thanks again

[Muphyn]

Marieke wrote: "Kswaxman wrote: "Hi. I am excited to find this group, and to read some of the books you are discussing. I am a surgeon who has worked in South Sudan with Doctors Without Borders. I just published..."

Wow, yes, fascinating line of work, I'm sure! Welcome to the group.

And just to echo what Marieke said, do feel free to set up a thread and introduce your book in the authors' corner (and shout out if you need any help with setting it up).

[Muphyn]

Laura wrote: "Hi I'm new to this group and would just like to say how happy I am that I have found you! I have a great passion for Africa and specifically East Africa, where I lived for a year. I have just downl..."

Welcome, Laura!

Haha, yes, a lot of us have issues with getting books for our group reads, half the time I can't even get hold of them (we try and be mindful of that when selecting titles but it's still challenging).

Excited to hear you'll be able to join us in March though!! :)

[Laura]

Thank you, looking forward to it. In the meantime I've been exploring the group side activities! So many

[Muphyn]

Laura wrote: "Thank you, looking forward to it. In the meantime I've been exploring the group side activities! So many"

:) :)

[Ghilimei]

Hi, I'm Eliza from Romania and was very excited to find this group. At the beginning of the year I realized that my reading habits were quite limited - mostly American literature, some Japanese and certain European countries. I wanted to change that, so I decided to start a reading tour of the world, which means I'll be broadening my horizon by trying to read at least one or two books from as many countries of the world as possible. But, as you all know, it's actually pretty difficult to find books from certain countries, which is why I'm happy I ran into you - at least now I'm not alone in my journey to Africa. I just want to express my admiration on how passionate and amazing you all are for making this group work so well and I'm glad to be part of it.

[Muphyn]

Hi Eliza,

Welcome to the group, and yes, you're definitely not alone in your journey to discovering literature from and about Africa! :) Quite a few members do 'read around the world' trips so you'll probably lots of like-minded people.

We started our tour through Africa (Tour d'Afrique) about four years ago now but feel free to check out previous stops and books we selected or that were suggested. Just have a look through the Tour d'Afrique folder and you'll find tons of suggestions for various countries.

We also have a contemporary lit tour, and again, heaps of group reads and suggestions to be found. Check out the contemporary lit discussions for 2014.

And lots of other projects, eg the African authors-African issues discussions, challenges or the Big Read project...

Feel free to revive "old" threads as well!!

Enjoy!

[Leo]

Hi, my name is Leo. I grew up in Zimbabwe but have resided in the UK for a few years now. I do try and visit the continent as often as I can though.
I have always been a rather avid reader but my forays into African Lit as a younger person were unashamedly Anglocentric i.e. Elspeth Huxley, Doris Lessing. I was pleasantly surprised to find some great novels written by Africans themselves. First up was Shimmer Chinodya's Harvest of thorns for GCE O-Level which certainly gave an alternative narrative to the Rhodesian one regarding the Bush War. Later I discovered others like Ngugi and I hope to get some good pointers to others through this forum.
I am an author as well (will post to that thread). Glad to have found a group so thoroughly invested in Africa and African literature. It's like a one-stop shop :)

[Marieke]

Welcome, Leo! It's great to have you on board here. I hope your reading life is happily inspired by being with us. :)

[Leo]

Marieke wrote: "Welcome, Leo! It's great to have you on board here. I hope your reading life is happily inspired by being with us. :)"

Thanks Marieke! Is that a Dutch name? I happen to know a Marieke from Germany who I seem to recall told me the name is actually Dutch (?). I also checked out your blog which came up in Arabic. You are fluent?

[Marieke]

Lol...I was born in Germany but I am American and yes, the name is Dutch. Very confusing! Haha

I am not fluent in Arabic, but have studied for a long time. Right now I'm a bit rusty and would not be able to replicate that blog post. I should probably take that down! I was a little ambitious a few years ago and planned to write a book review in Arabic one time each month. Uhhhh....that never ended up happening.

[Leo]

Marieke wrote: "Lol...I was born in Germany but I am American and yes, the name is Dutch. Very confusing! Haha

I am not fluent in Arabic, but have studied for a long time. Right now I'm a bit rusty and would not ..."

Thanks for the vindication :) I'm very envious! I would love to be able to understand and write Arabic. I've visited Algeria which was a fascinating mix of language and culture but fundamentally Islamic and Arabic. It would also help in better understanding the Turkish language and the legacy of the Ottomans :)

[Marieke]

I have a good friend from Algeria and he has helped me a lot with Arabic. He speaks dialect, but also has excellent standard Arabic, which is all I can handle! I hope to visit Algeria someday. Besides some European countries and Canada, I have only ever been to Egypt. I hope to go back there! I missed out on visiting my dad when he lived in Kenya. That was dumb.

[Valerie]

Speaking of languages, does anyone here speak Sousou?

[Marieke]

Valerie wrote: "Speaking of languages, does anyone here speak Sousou?"

ooo interesting! i wonder...anyone?

[Valerie]

Two out of two Valeries want to know!

[Marieke]

Valerie wrote: "Two out of two Valeries want to know!"

Ha! i actually deleted your duplicate ;)

[Eva]

Hi, I am new here and was wondering what would be the best way to introduce my own book, Kilimanjaro Diaries, which is AFrica-themed. And I've currently got it on promotion for free through Kindle Select. I really just wanted to let people know about it in case anyone wants to download for free, but I'm not here to blatantly self-promote:-).

Also, I"ve reviewed quite a few Africa-themed books and was wondering if there is a place where you share/discuss such reviews (other than the general Goodreads reviews we all post).

[N.]

Hello Everyone

I am new here and my comment is very similar to those of other new members, which follows:
I have reviewed about 10 books in African lit, including a couple from the Tour d' Afrique.
What is the best way to make these reviews accessible to the group? Do I paste them into a thread? which ones?

Nick

[Marieke]

I have to apologize, I'm using the app right now so can't really link, but first: welcome Eva and N!

As for sharing reviews, you can do that in any group read thread where we are discussing or have discussed a specific book, so I would check for that first. If we haven't discussed a particular book, we have at least one other generic place for discussion where you could share those reviews, but I think I need to link to them for you for it to be clear.

[Íris]

Hello everyone,
Just noticed I hadn't introduced myself yet.
I live in Angola (been living in and out but now I settled) for about 6 years now and been slowly discovering African literature. Unofortunately I didn't have the opportunity to read some Angolan literature (we don't have bookshops where I live) but I found a few books in a shop and hope to buy a couple soon :)

[Marieke]

Íris wrote: "Hello everyone,
Just noticed I hadn't introduced myself yet.
I live in Angola (been living in and out but now I settled) for about 6 years now and been slowly discovering African literature. Unofor..."

Welcome, Iris! I hope you enjoy it here with us. Sometimes African literature can be really hard to find, depending on the book and the reader's location and language. You'll have to keep us informed about what is available in Angola.

[Laura]

Welcome Iris! Angola is a country that really fascinates me. Looking forward to your contributions.

[D.U.]

Happy New Year, everyone!

Wow this looks like a great group. Got to get some of these books that you've recommended onto my reading list!

[Marieke]

Welcome D.U.!

I hope you like it here with us. Happy reading in the new year!

[Rachel]

Valerie wrote: "Speaking of languages, does anyone here speak Sousou?"

Erh.. I can do hellos in sousou! But I learned more Pular in Guinea when I was there.. Not that I remember much of that now either.

[Rachel]

Hi everyone!

My name's Rachel and I'm (obviously) new to the group. I spent six months in Peace Corps Guinea in 2012, which only made my passion for Africa to new heights. I'm currently teaching English in France and will be returning home to the US in May of 2015 (aka, if anyone speaks French and wants to do a French book / discussion, let me know!)

I'm hoping to get a couple e-book copies in the coming weeks, so I won't have to wait for shipping to France for physical copies. And that way I don't have to ship them back to the US at the end of the school year. :) I'm looking forward to talking with you guys here!

[Marieke]

Welcome Rachel! Your peace corps experience must have been amazing. There are quite a few peace corps alums here...RPCV? Is that the acronym? I'm blanking...

There are a few French speakers here and we could totally set up a space for French-language discussion here. The "official" discussions will always be in English but I think supporting untranslated literature would be great, too. I'll be a little jealous though since French is not one of my languages ;)

Also, it always fine to read selections in languages other than English but in order to include as many participants as possible, we keep the discussions in English. I mean, the official ones...

I'm rambling, sorry! Maybe I need more coffee this morning...

[Rachel]

Marieke wrote: "Welcome Rachel! Your peace corps experience must have been amazing. There are quite a few peace corps alums here...RPCV? Is that the acronym? I'm blanking...

There are a few French speakers here a..."

RPCVs is correct! And very cool, I kind of had a feeling there would be some around here. :) And of course it makes since that, primarily, things will be kept to English. I'm getting my French fill as it is right now just being in France! But if there's a thread dedicated to French lit or conversation, you can be sure that I'll be there haha.

[Simon]

Hi all,

My name's Simon and I live in the Casamance, Senegal. My wife is a Diola and I'm learning that language as well as Wolof.

I read a lot of Africa themed books, so am glad I found this group - in fact I was already reading Looking for Transwonderland when I joined.

I have also written a book (Squirting Milk at Chameleons) that is being published in the UK on 31st Jan - it's about one year of life in a small village.

Look forward to reading some great books and getting more recommendations.

Simon

[Stephanie]

Hello everyone!

I'm Stephanie and I'm an American who currently lives in Mali. I've also lived in Burundi and India. I just went through the list of books you've read. I've read the Burundi book and I downloaded samples of the Mali book and a few others. My main area of interest is central Africa, but since we live in Mali now I'm trying to learn more about this region as well.

I'm writing a memoir of my time in Burundi and very shortly I'll have some chapters ready for beta reading. I want to make sure I'm headed in the right direction and that people find the book interesting enough for me to keep going! When the chapters are ready I'll post in the authors' section to solicit readers.

I look forward to sharing some great books with everyone!

Best,
Stephanie

[Marieke]

Welcome Simon and Stephanie! I'm so glad you found be us and I hope you like it here.

Simon, I love languages so I'm really excited you are learning those. :)

Stephanie, yes, please make use of the author folder!

[Larry]

Welcome Stephanie. I would love to read your beta reading book. I just finished my book on my time in Nigeria 1966-1967.

[Stephanie]

Larry wrote: "Welcome Stephanie. I would love to read your beta reading book. I just finished my book on my time in Nigeria 1966-1967."

Thanks, Larry! I'll send you a message.

Stephanie

[Penelope]

Greetings to all!

I'd like to introduce myself. I'm Penelope, and I live in the United States. I have had a keen interest in Africa since I was a child. I've never been, although I hope to change that soon. There are many African authors I enjoy, and I'm delighted to have found this group.

Penelope

[Larry]

Welcome, Penelope. I lived in Nigeria from 1966-1967 and have followed the developments since then. I do hope you find books written by Africans as intriguing as I have. Which authors, so far, have you enjoyed?

Larry

[Marieke]

Welcome Penelope!

I'm glad you have found us. I also have never been to Africa--missed a good chance when my dad lived in Kenya. :(

[Jem]

i`m jem from ethiopia and fresh reader as much us possibble i want to improve my reading ability

[Larry]

Welcome Jem and Hattie.

[Judy]

Hi Everyone, I'm Judy from the US. I lived in Cape Town, South Africa 1972-73 as an exchange student (interesting time) and have been back a number times, most recently in 2013. I've also visited Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia), Swaziland, Lesotho. I would like to visit Egypt and East Africa next. I'm looking forward to joining in the reads and learning lots more.

[Marieke]

I'm so glad to see members introducing themselves! Welcome to you all. I'm using my phone and sleep deprived from new baby so I'm sorry I've already forgotten the four new names here. :/
Anyway, I enjoy seeing you reach out to each other. :)

[Penelope]

Larry wrote: "Welcome, Penelope. I lived in Nigeria from 1966-1967 and have followed the developments since then. I do hope you find books written by Africans as intriguing as I have. Which authors, so far, h..."
Thanks for the welcome, Larry.
I have particularly enjoyed books by Chimamanda Adichie, Nadine Gordimer, Chris Abani, Ishmael Beah, and Doreen Baingana. In addition to books by African writers, I am also interested in reading books about Africa. Any gems you can help me uncover will be greatly appreciated.

[Rosalinda]

Hello. I've just joined this group. I have always had an interest in Africa and learning more about the culture, environment & people. I have a particular interest in Uganda; I would love recommendations on books on the history of this country or a fictional book which has a Ugandan setting. I just found a copy of the book Africa by Dowden on Amazon so am excited to begin reading it soon.I'm also interested in reading The Exiles of Crocodile Island, although that has been more difficult to locate.

[Ammanulah]

hello, I am Ammanulah an African by nature, Love poetry and Music, being here feels like home