Harare Review of Books, June 2023
Hi!
It’s finally the middle of the year (no matter how much I troll my Twitter buddies at the beginning of June); welcome! Er—I think it’s ok for me to welcome you, even though I’m just getting here myself and I’m not the host?
Recently on the blog
Here’s what I’ve been reading.
This is my favourite kind of science fiction, sci-fi the way I love it: futuristic and realistic, warmly human, and full of diversity. Caribbean-born author Tobias S. Buckell’s collection is full of the weird and wonderful—from a girl on the moon with her robotic dog, to a rover waiting for humans on Io, worldships, space elevators, sentient starships, Independence Day-style invasions (of a sort), space cats, and more. [More]
In an upcoming book, Egyptian journalist and author Yasmine El Rashidi updates readers on the present state of affairs in Egypt through the lens of mahraganat, the hip hop scene there. In her words, Egypt “is at [in late 2022, when the book was written] its most oppressive point in its modern history”; this in spite of the “inherited silence” of the recent past under Hosni Mubarak, when citizens did not dare comment publicly on politics, fearing being disappeared or worse. [More]
When Three Sevens Clash is a collection of reminiscences—mainly about the rise of Zimbabwean legend, Thomas Mapfumo, but also about those wondrous decades before Zim’s independence, with a couple of personal essays thrown in. The great Mapfumo is still with us, and this anthology gives him his flowers in a wonderful celebration of his life and work. [More]
This delightful, colourful, beautifully illustrated book of myths is an unexpectedly lovely diversion. With entries from all around the world (sensitively and respectfully handled!), it celebrates how human cultures have relied on story to make sense of and to explain life and creation. [More]
A pleasure to read this 2017 self-published novel about Obi Ifeanyi and his travails in love and family life. Obi is a second-generation Nigerian-American, married to Chi Chi, with a young son. He struggles to keep his marriage on track in the face of difficulties in his marriage (his wife doesn’t seem to want more children, and he does; she’s also at school, and there are economic struggles), and then there’s all the temptation from old girlfriends. [More]
This is a fun and immersive book about human fascination with Mars. Shindell’s aim is to draw an arc through history, from ancient times until now, on Mars in our imagination and meaning—from an erratic, eccentric light in the sky, to the relatively known quantity it is now, a rocky, cold planet. [More]
This superb collection of stories shows the range, skill and remarkable literary mind of Eugen Bacon. What a journey it took me on, and what a wonderful introduction to her writing. Bacon has won many honours, and Danged Black Thing makes it easy to see why. [More]
There’s a lightness to this book that I didn’t expect, given the cast of ancestors, ghosts, and aswang. My word cloud for this collection is: women, immigrant life, tropical flowers, food, Catholicism, typhoons and hurricanes, caring for and honouring the elderly, racism and colourism, the US, Spain, colonialism and empire. Galang has somehow managed the feat of weaving all of this together into a rich imaginary of myth, colour, and dreams. [More]
There’s a touch of the fever dream in the stories collected in Innards. Many of them are in the form of a stream-of-consciousness, the characters relating, remembering, or rambling. A few of the narrators are unreliable, humans impacted by poverty, trauma, war, oppression—from Apartheid, and otherwise. Some characters are recurring, or referenced in linked stories. [More]
Currently reading
A selection:
Happening in books
According to Brittle Paper, Sudan’s rare books library was destroyed in a fire 😓
Sudanese author Reem Gaafar is the winner of the 2023 Island Prize: story on Afrocritik.
The African Book Festival Berlin 2023 guests have been announced. They include Abdelaziz Baraka Sakin, Bisi Adjapon, C. A. Davids, Edwige-Renée Dro, Fiston Mwanza Mujila, Fred Khumalo, Haji Jabir, Khadija Abdalla Bajaber, Laila Lalami, Max Lobe, Leila Aboulela, Niq Mhlongo, and others. Here’s their Insta.
Here are the finalists for the 2023 Miles Franklin Award, Australia’s top literary prize: Jessica Au, Cold Enough for Snow; Robbie Arnott, Limberlost; Yumna Kassab, The Lovers; Fiona Kelly McGregor, Iris; Shankari Chandran, Chai Time at the Cinnamon Gardens; Kgshak Akec, Hopeless Kingdom, from Lithub.
I found this a really thoughtful interview with a brilliant writer: Rebecca F. Kuang in The Guardian.
Calls for submissions:
The Flute, photography and poetry on African Urban Echoes, deadline Sept. 1: Olongo Africa.
Nkgwana Magazine in Cape Town:
The Chicago Review of books is looking for essays and things: Write for the Chicago Review of Books!
And in replies to this tweet: lots of other places.
Speaking of: Twitter is not Twitter anymore 😓. I’m slowly migrating.
July releases I'm looking forward to
Here’s what I’m excited or just curious for in July:
That's it for now. You can find me in all of the usual places: linktr.ee, on the blog, or by replying to this email.
Take care!
St 💫
PS.
I’m still trying to get people to chat (very casually) about books—are you interested in joining me on Discord?
I’m working on a couple of fun things; watch this space.
There was my uncle, among the varoora (daughters-in-law), with a Zambia around his waist, adjusting it adeptly, as if he had done this many times before. The older men sat outside around a fire, debating politics and waiting to be tasked with driving somewhere to pick something up. The younger men were charged with slaughtering the cow, chopping firewood and cooking sadza in a drum the only cooking they would do since it was deemed that it required physical strength. But my uncle checked if the rest of food was going to be on time, kept the varoora on their toes for a few minutes, and then walked back into the house. There he sat on the floor with the older women, legs folded underneath him on one side, with one rattle in his hands singing and crying. He just seemed to fit. I saw him at more funerals after that and at each one, he toyed with the expectations of gendered performance. Each time, he did it with kindness, affection and care.
Rutendo Chabikwa in When Three Sevens Clash x Percy Zvomuya (Ed)