Is the dependence on expensive devices a Western solution to an African problem? By Edward Nawotka Today’s feature story considers the challenges of digital publishing in sub-Saharan Africa. Amongst the key obstacles preventing further proliferation of digital reading across the continent is a lack of cash, political will…and electricity. Innovative programs such as Worldreader.org, which has distributed some 500 Kindles …
Hay Festival Hosts Events in the Maldives, Kenya, Kerala
By Edward Nawotka The Hay Festival folks have been busy this month, hosting festivals in both the Maldives and Kenya, with yet another planned for Kerala in November. The Maldives has been a multi-party democracy for only two years and the country’s president has set his country a target of becoming carbon neutral within ten years. Accordingly, the event in …
New Writing from Nairobi: Storymoja’s “Story of the Week”
By Edward Nawotka Storymoja, the Nairobi-based publishing collective that we profiled last year, is running a weekly short story contest. Publishers looking for new African voices might do well by paying attention to some of the winners. Stories that qualify for the contest need to adhere to certain criteria: Contemporary Nairobi setting Has two or more young professionals as main characters …
Kenya’s Storymoja Strives to Connect the African Continent
By Tolu Ogunlesi NAIROBI: “Words are the most important thing about coming together, said Kate Adie, the BBC’s former Chief News Correspondent, “and that is what Storymoja is all about.” Adie was speaking in Nairobi at a party held to round off this year’s Storymoja Hay Festival, which took place from July 31 to August 2. It is the first spin-off …
Bonus Material: An African Short Story Renaissance
By Edward Nawotka In Africa, short story writing is thriving and the £10,000 Caine Prize for African Writing has had a great deal to do with this resurgence. The prize is given for a previously published work of fiction not longer than 10,000 words written in English by an African. It is named for the late Sir Michael Caine, former Chairman of …
Bonus Material: Hay Festival Teams with Nairobi’s Storymoja
By Edward Nawotka NAIROBI: The inaugural Storymoja Hay Festival will take place in Nairobi, Kenya this July 31-August 2. A collaboration between the UK’s Hay Festival and Nairobi’s Storymoja, with 132 events and 50 hours of programming featuring a veritable plethora of writers, artists, musicians and academics from across Africa. The event is the latest project of the Storymoja writing …