Great African Reads discussion

2013
Jan-Feb: Madagascar | Over the Lip of the World: Among the Storytellers of Madagascar by Colleen J. McElroy

Mar-Apr: Malawi | The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope by William Kamkwamba

May-June: Mali | Monique and the Mango Rains: Two Years with a Midwife in Mali

July-Aug: Mauritania | Silent Terror: A Journey into Contemporary African Slavery

Sept-Oct: Mauritius | The Rape Of Sita & The Last Brother

2014
Jan-Feb: Morocco | The Sand Child

Mar-Apr: Mozambique | Under the Frangipani

May-June: Namibia | Mama Namibia

July-Aug: Niger | Harmattan

Sept-Oct: Nigeria | TBC

Nov-Dec: Rwanda | TBC

2015
Jan-Feb: São Tomé and Príncipe | TBC

Mar-Apr: Senegal | TBC

May-June: Seychelles | TBC

July-Aug: Sierra Leone | TBC

Sept-Oct: Somalia | TBC

Nov-Dec: South Africa | TBC

2016
Jan-Feb: South Sudan | TBC

Mar-Apr: Sudan | TBC

May-June: Swaziland | TBC

July-Aug: Tanzania | TBC

Sept-Oct: Togo | TBC

Nov-Dec: Tunisia | TBC

2017
Jan-Feb: Uganda | TBC

Mar-Apr: Western Sahara | TBC

May-June: Zambia | TBC

July-Aug: Zimbabwe | TBC

FINISH LINE!

I've listed the remaining Tour d'Afrique stopovers if we continue with the 'six countries per year' plan... it's going to take til 2017! Whoa!! :)

But you are missing South Sudan in this list.

Yes, you're right, Anne! Thanks for pointing that out! :)

Probably missed it because it so young and, understandably, not included in A Basket of Leaves: 99 Books That Capture the Spirit of Africa! I'll fix it up tomorrow.

But what will we do in 2017?! If my ancient and feeble mind is still functioning at that point, I will probably want to start all over again:)

We might want to move on to Asia.

Osho wrote: "We might want to move on to Asia."

lol. this is the Africa group. ;)

Andrea wrote: "But what will we do in 2017?! If my ancient and feeble mind is still functioning at that point, I will probably want to start all over again:)"

i think we can figure something out... :)

Yeah, I think we'll be able to figure something out... like doing Africa Z-A... ;)

I finally managed to update our list of previous stopovers... 2014 looks like it's going to be an exciting year with Namibia, Nigeria and Rwanda coming up.

Muphyn wrote: "I finally managed to update our list of previous stopovers... 2014 looks like it's going to be an exciting year with Namibia, Nigeria and Rwanda coming up."

:)
Looking forward to the visits/discussions

How are we going to chose reads from Nigeria? There are so, so, so many good active writers from Nigeria: Nnedi Okorafor, Chris Abani, Okey Ndibe, Yejide KilankoHelon HabilaNgozi Achebe are on my wish lists. Plus of course Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Teju Cole, Chika Unigwe,Lola Shoneyin among others. And that is not even getting down to the level of specific titles!

I'm very excited to go see Teju Cole speak at an event in the spring! Nigeria is worthy of its own year.

I agree Nigeria needs a year.

I have another title to add to Nigeria - short stories! Happiness, Like Water by Chinelo Okparanta.

I would not be opposed to featuring a country for an entire year. :)

But how would you all like to select for Nigeria? I agree it's a very difficult task. We could choose an author and do a semi-free read...?

I think a year on Nigeria is doable as there are so many writers active there. My nomination would be Looking for TransWonderland-Travels in Nigeria by Noo Saro-Wiwa. It was quite entertaining and a great description of contemporary Nigeria.

Larry wrote: "I think a year on Nigeria is doable as there are so many writers active there. My nomination would be Looking for TransWonderland-Travels in Nigeria by Noo Saro-Wiwa. It was quite entertaining an..."

This is on my TBR list. And definitely I will get around to reading it.

I read it and really enjoyed it. :). It is a great way to get an overview of Nigeria--the geographic landscape as well as history and social issues.

I learned of the massive corruption plaguing the country now. When I lived there in the mid-sixties, bribing, or "dash", was present but not on this scale. Soo is quite an entertaining and capable writer.

Marieke wrote: "I would not be opposed to featuring a country for an entire year. :)

But how would you all like to select for Nigeria? I agree it's a very difficult task. We could choose an author and do a semi-f..."

I wonder whether we could consider doing four months for Nigeria which would allow us to do at least two main reads, plus say a couple or more "free"/"adjunct" reads. I suspect a similar issue will come up with South Africa. Then of course there is the fiction vs non-fiction matter.

Any chance you could update the first post on this page, Marieke?

I think you can copy/paste this:

Sept-Oct: Nigeria | The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives

Nov-Dec: Rwanda | Our Lady of the Nile and We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families

2015
Jan-Feb: São Tomé and Príncipe | Chocolate Islands: Cocoa, Slavery, and Colonial Africa and The Exiles of Crocodile Island

Mar-Apr: Senegal | Squirting Milk at Chameleons: An Accidental African

May-June: Seychelles | The Edge of Eden

July-Aug: Sierra Leone | Radiance of Tomorrow

Sept-Oct: Somalia | From a Crooked Rib

Nov-Dec: South Africa | Coconut

2016
Jan-Feb: South Sudan | Emma's War and Beyond the River Yei: Life in the Land Where Sleeping Is a Disease

Mar-Apr: Sudan | Season of Migration to the North

May-June: Swaziland | When Hoopoes Go to Heaven

July-Aug: Tanzania | Desertion

2017

Jan-Feb: Togo | TBC

Mar-Apr: Tunisia | TBC

May-Jun: Uganda | TBC

Jul-Aug: Western Sahara | TBC

Sept-Oct: Zambia | TBC

Nov-Dec: Zimbabwe | TBC

FINISH LINE!

Guinea?

Guinea is listed in the first set of readings. This is the second set.

Times, thanks for updating it...I don't think I am able to edit Muphyn's post. Last time I tried reaching out to her but didn't get a response. I wonder about making a google doc and linking to it from the group homepage? I'm not the most technically savvy.