WEALTH OF IDEAS

I feel inspired to join the Caine Blogging Carnival this year. I might share a few comments here and there. I have already interviewed one of the authors, Chinelo Okparanta, and if I can track all of them down, I may request interviews with the others. I really want to talk to Pede Hollist pronto! Just enjoyed his story today; that one spoke to me with a certain urgency. I tend to like the stories taking us to America, for obvious reasons, but I have already crossed  out "Miracle", which I found charming, but deeply shallow (maybe that's why it was chosen). The shortlisted stories for the 2013 Caine Prize are [links to pdfs]: “Bayan Layi,” by Elnathan John “Miracle,” by Tope Folarin “Foreign Aid,” by Pede Hollist “The Whispering Tree,” by Abubakar Adam Ibrahim “America,” by Chinelo Okparanta The top 3 for me are these: “Foreign Aid,” by Pede Hollist “The Whispering Tree,” by Abubakar Adam Ibrahim “America,” by Chinelo Okparanta "Whispering Tre...

Chinelo Okparanta I just interviewed one of the writers shortlisted on the 2013 Caine Prize, Chinelo Okparanta. Here is the interview in part. Emmanuel Sigauke (ES) : Congratulations for being shortlisted on the 2013 Caine Prize for African Writing. Tell us how you felt when you found out that you were on this list. Chinelo Okparanta (CO) : Thank you, Emmanuel. When I heard the news I was happy and grateful. But nervous too. We write with the hope that our stories will be read, and prior to the Caine shortlist, my story “America” was certainly read. But the Caine Prize nomination has meant that the story has become accessible to a much wider audience than previously anticipated, which in turn means greater responsibility on my part. Also, a greater sense of vulnerability. ES: Port Harcourt features prominently as setting in your collection Happiness, Like Water. How has this place shaped your writing? As a writer, where are you most at home, United State...

And here are the details from the Caine Prize website: The shortlist for the 2013 Caine Prize for African Writing has been announced today (Wednesday 15 May) – and among the five stories chosen are an unprecedented four Nigerian entries.   The Chair of judges, art historian and broadcaster, Gus Casely-Hayford said, “The shortlist was selected from 96 entries from 16 African countries. They are all outstanding African stories that were drawn from an extraordinary body of high quality submissions.”   Gus described the shortlist saying, “The five contrasting titles interrogate aspects of things that we might feel we know of Africa – violence, religion, corruption, family, community – but these are subjects that are deconstructed and beautifully remade. These are challenging, arresting, provocative stories of a continent and its descendants captured at a time of burgeoning change.”   The winner of the £10,000 prize is to be announced at a celebratory dinner at the B...

  Presents   Phillip Larrea and Jan Haag   Monday, May 13, 2013 at 7:30 PM 1719 25th Street at SPC Host: Emmanuel Sigauke       Phillip Larrea is a syndicated columnist, and has been a widely published poet in the U.S., U.K. and Europe. Some of his favorite credits include Commonline Journal, The Rusty Nail , and Decades Review in the U.S., as well as Poetry Bus Magazine, Outburst, Nazar Look , and Silver Bow Anthology 2012 , internationally. Phillip studied poetry with Thom Gunn and Karl Shapiro at U.C. Davis, back in the day when tablets were made of stone. His chapbook, Our Patch (Writing Knights Press), was released January 2013. Phillip’s full-length poetry collection, We the People (Cold River Press), was released in April, 2013. Closing Time I leave some paper on the bar. Thank my Host for a pretty good time. All work for Him, I know. I pretend we are on good terms, nonetheless. Most of my fellow revelers have left. ...

Title: Interviews with Effervescent Writers Editor: Christine Mautjana Publisher: Mbali Press ISBN: 9780987030832 The package containing this book, shipped all the way from South Africa (to California) arrived in August 2012, when I was away in Zimbabwe. One of the writers featured in the book, Aryan Kaganof, whom I had just published on Munyori Journal, sent it to me for possible review. I am glad he did, because through reading the book, I have discovered new writers based in South Africa that I didn't know before, writers whose books I am going to start looking for. This thin book of interviews (127 pages) is full of interesting perspectives on the writing process, on reading, and on writing politics in South Africa and elsewhere. These writers, according to the editor, are "effervescent", which gives the reader the impression that they are full of energy, that they are in many ways bubbly, that they sparkle with creative energy, and, indeed, most of them do. ...