Culture
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The puzzle of Libya’s ancient ruins
Libya is replete with ancient ruins, archaeological sites and cultural landmarks. Why aren’t the locals interested? In the summer of 2023, I went home ... -
How Afrobeats is sampling nostalgia for the Gen Zs
With the industry awash with money, global notoriety, bold Afrobeats producers are buying early Afrobeats records, channelling them to an audience seeking its slice ... -
A story within a story: The making and unmaking of Ethiopia’s imperial messiah
This unauthorised biography of Abiy Ahmed is a nuanced, unsparing examination of a leader trying to hold together a republic being undone by its ... -
Mkuki Bgoya: “Swahili writers should be mandatory reading in Tanzania, but there’s a deep trauma around books”
Abdulrazak Gurnah, the Zanzibari-born 2021 Nobel Literature laureate’s grand homecoming was punctuated by the translation of his masterpiece, Paradise, into Kiswahili. His publisher, Mkuki ... -
The best African books of 2023
Once more, African writers from the continent and diaspora have provided us some literary gems. Our top novels of 2023, in no particular order. ... -
Has African climate fiction already shown us the future?
From cities within sand-storms to biotech implants, African writers are imagining diverse climate futures. Here are five recommended reads. We cannot know what the ... -
Decolonising African cinema in the time of Netflix
90% of Africa’s cultural legacy resides outside the continent; audiovisual restitution is a battle for memory as urgent as artefact restitution. When film director ... -
A mythical giant snake is helping raise climate awareness in Malawi
Sensitive campaigners are finding that belief in Napolo, a legendary multi-headed monster, is no barrier to environmental understanding and action. In March earlier this ... -
Zimbabwean legend, Thomas Mapfumo retires in exile
After five decades on the stage, one of the continent’s great musical innovators, and an outspoken critic of corrupt politics, takes his last bow ...
