Tag Archives: literature

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Principal Judge Dr Flavian Zeija called upon everyone who wishes Ugandan writers well, to always refer to their work instead of prioritising foreign authors. At the launch of the book “Small Book of Big Quotes”, authored by the Judiciary’s Permanent Secretary, at Judiciary headquarters …

London, United Kingdom | AFP |  Michelle Obama on Monday returned to a London school she had visited as US first lady encouraging students to “practice sisterhood” as she presented a new memoir of her life. Obama is in the British capital to promote her hotly-anticipated book, “Becoming”, which has …

Stockholm, Sweden | AFP | The Swedish Academy, which has awarded the Nobel Literature Prize since 1901, said Monday it would expand its prize jury to include outsiders for the first time following a scandal that forced it to postpone this year’s award. The venerable institution has been in crisis …

Stockholm, Sweden | AFP | What do you do when this year’s Nobel Literature Prize, the world’s most prestigious accolade of its kind, is postponed because of a sexual assault scandal? You create your own award. More than 100 Swedish intellectuals have joined forces to form a new prize-giving body …

Lancaster, UK | THE INDEPENDENT | A Lancaster University alumna has been awarded a life-changing prize for literature. Dr Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi has been awarded the 2018 Windham-Campbell Prize in Fiction, which includes a grant of $165,000 (Sh603 million) to support her writing. Jennifer, a Ugandan novelist and short story …

Paris, France | AFP | The great global reckoning with sexual harassment is “long overdue”, says acclaimed Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, but the feminist figurehead in Africa hopes it is not “a passing fad”. As the global #MeToo movement against sexual misconduct continues in the wake of the disgraced …

Lagos, Nigeria | AFP | Mention Nigerian literature and the first names likely to spring to mind are Chinua Achebe, the author of “Things Fall Apart”, or the venerable Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka. But Africa’s most populous nation has a new crop of writers whose work is a far cry from …

Paris, France | AFP | Two novels about the Nazis took France’s biggest literary prizes on Monday, with Eric Vuillard’s story of how German industry and finance backed Adolf Hitler winning the top Prix Goncourt. “L’ordre du jour” (in English “Agenda”) had been among the favourites for the Goncourt prize — …

Londres, United Kingdom | AFP | Kazuo Ishiguro, the 62-year-old British novelist of Japanese origin who won the Nobel Prize for Literature on Thursday, once wanted to be a rock star, then became a social worker and only later in life turned to writing. Born in Japan and raised in England …

Winchester, United Kingdom | AFP | Two hundred years after Jane Austen’s death, Britain is celebrating one of its best-loved authors, who combined romance with biting social commentary that still speaks to fans around the world. The author of classic novels “Pride and Prejudice”, “Emma” and “Sense and Sensibility” had …