Nuruddin Farah: What if all Stories Are One and Only One Story?

Internationally renowned novelist and man of letters Nuruddin Farah is the Regent Lecturer for Spring 2009 at University of California, Berkeley. This second lecture takes place in Maude Fife Room (315 Wheeler) today at 5 pm; a reception will follow the lecture in 330 Wheeler Hall.

Nuruddin Farah is one of the major African authors writing today and a leading figure on the world literary scene. He is the author of ten novels, including "From a Crooked Rib" and the acclaimed trilogies "Variations on the Theme of an African Dictatorship" ("Sweet and Sour Milk", "Sardines", "Close Sesame") and "Blood on the Sun" ("Maps", "Gifts", "Secrets"). Two volumes ("Links", "Knots") of a third trilogy have appeared, with the final volume forthcoming soon. His novels have been translated into seventeen languages and have won numerous awards. Farah was named 1998 laureate of the Neustadt International Prize for Literature, and he is widely considered to be a leading candidate for the Nobel Prize. Born in Baidoa, Somalia, Farah now lives in Cape Town, South Africa, with his wife and their children.

Comments

m said…
If only I could go! I read "Gifts" a few months ago and was swept off my feet. Beautiful writing, radical treatment of gift-giving (the west giving to poor countries), and a refreshing love story and treatment of Somalia. Not to mention that his feminism, at least in that text, was pretty rad, I can't think of any other African male writer (that I have read) who comes close in that department.
April 22, 2009 at 2:33 PM
Emmanuel Sigauke said…
Yes, one of the veteran writers of Africa. I like his writing style.
April 22, 2009 at 7:28 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Abuja Writers' Forum Call for Submissions

Wordsbody has announced the following call for submissions: CAVALCADE literary journal, devoted to publishing original stories, poems,one-act plays, reviews, critical essays and art from an African perspective,will debut in October 2008 with a special edition. The tri-annual journal, a project of the Abuja Writers' Forum (AWF), is now seeking submissions for the second and third editions. Deadline: October 30, 2008 See more details here: Contribute to Cavalcade.
Read more

Roland Mhasvi's Flowers

Image
This is the cover of my copy of Roland Masvi's Flowers of Yesterday, a collection I reviewed in 1996 for The Herald. I was going through my old stuff when I saw this book in my old collection.  As I was flipping through the pages, I saw the cut-out for the original review, which in part reads: "This is a collection of highly esoteric poetry..., which can be charged of what Afrocentric scholars have described as 'piles of esoterica and ostentatious erudition'... The language is to the ordinary reader opaque, the imagery is inaccessible and the symbolism is surprisingly unusual but invitingly novel...real food for scholars."   The review just reminds me of the Chinweizu days, when we, as university students, had rediscovered African literature and its theory. Talking about Afrocentricity had a certain appeal, and we were looking at a lot of writing through the lenses of this newly-discovered Afrocentricity. Looking back, perhaps there was more in Mhasvi's poe
Read more

FREEDOM, a poem on South Africa by Afzal Moolla

Freedom The shackles have been cast off. Chains broken. People once squashed, under the jackboot of Apartheid, are free. Free at last! Freedom came on the 27th day in that April, 1994. Freedom from prejudice. From institutionalised racism. From being relegated to second-class citizenship. Freedom came and we danced. We cried. We ululated as we elected our revered Mandela. President Nelson Mandela. Our very own beloved 'Madiba'. Black and white and brown and those in-between, All hues of this rainbow nation, rejoiced as we breathed in the air of freedom and democracy. Today we pause. We remember. We salute. The brave ones whose sacrifices made this day possible, on that 27th day of April, 18 years ago. Today we dance. We sing. We ululate. We cry. Tears of joy and tears of loss. Of remembrance and of forgiveness. Of reconciliation and of memories. Today we pause. We acknowledge the tasks ahead. The hungry. The naked. The destitut
Read more