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From Stephen Elliott
A fantastic essay at The New Inquiry inspects the recently deceased Chinua Achebe’s place in the Western literary canon.
...moreIn an interview a few years ago, Norman Rush was talking about the ways he was influenced by African writers, and he mentioned that “No non-African could do what Achebe has done.” And I get what he was saying.
Alexandra Fuller’s third memoir, Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness, turns the spotlight on her mother—”a broken, splendid, fierce mother.”I swear to God if I hear one more thing about Sarah Palin I’m going to snap, so this week, The Rumpus is giving you a roundup of political links that are a lot more interesting than anything ever written by or about her.
...moreNnedi Okorafor has an essay over at The Nebula Awards site about Africa’s relationship with science fiction, as well as a discussion on Penguin’s decision to make science fiction ineligible for The Penguin Prize for African Writing.
“As (director Tchidi) Chikere said, African audiences don’t feel that science fiction is really concerned with what’s real, what’s present….
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“After the phone call from The New Yorker, I walked more than a mile to church to thank God. But then I told God I would talk to Him another time and darted home.”
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