The winner will be announced on March 27 at the British Library. Glory by NoViolet Bulawayo (Chatto & Windus) is shortlisted for the 2023 Rathbones Folio Prize.Still, I have little interest in publicly dismissing someone else’s earnest efforts, especially as I know how hard writing is. Sometimes, a book is just not for you (or it could be that you’re not for the book) and that’s OK - I’ve set aside my fair share in this long reading life. I think of this book often, with fondness and gratitude. I emerged from it hungry and a believer in the power of the written word, devouring whatever I could get my hands on, and with a fervent desire to create my own worlds. This was the first time I escaped into a fictional universe from which I didn’t want to return. I encountered The Enchanted Wood by Enid Blyton as a child, and it was a revelation. I longed for this book for years before it was written, and I’m super pleased and grateful it now exists.Īs a Black woman and holder of an African passport, traversing through the so-called global north is to navigate and move through an unequal world whose hostile border systems are invested in keeping Black and Brown people out.ĭear reader, the indignity, the injustice! Nanjala Nyabola’s provocative collection unpacks this and other important questions around movement, identity, racism, power and much more. I’d also take Travelling While Black by Nanjala Nyabola. I’ve read this masterpiece so many times I’ve lost count, and it never fails to feel fresh, as well as fill me with awe with each read. She would take One Hundred Years Of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez to a desert island NoViolet Bulawayo (pictured) is reading Innards by Magogodi oaMphela Makhene, set in South Africa. The daring imagination, the beguiling story-mazes, the haunted characters, the humanity, the history, the magic, the absurdity, the narrative ingenuity - for this, and so much more. One Hundred Years Of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. In addition to her own captivating life, Sarah Manyika probes with care, depth, and intelligence to bring out what is deeply human about her inspiring subjects, while allowing their celebrated genius to shine through. In Between Starshine And Clay, Sarah Ladipo Manyika celebrates Black excellence through a brilliant series of intimate interviews with luminaries such as Toni Morrison, Michelle Obama, Henry Louis Gates Jnr, Claudia Rankine and Evan Mawarire. I’m already looking forward to this writer’s next book. Magogodi oaMphela Makhene explores apartheid South Africa through a colourful cast of complex, beautifully rendered characters, whose electrifying stories will often leave you clutching at your own innards. Innards - a powerful, sharply observed debut story collection that’s unlike anything I’ve read.
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