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The Strange Poisonous Fruit of Hate: South Africa, Nigeria, and the world
Here is last week’s column, “The Strange Poisonous Fruit of Hate.” I wrote it in a very scattered state of mind. At times, there was gunfire in the background which punctuated my own emotional turmoil....
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A mixed-up people: When Wainaina writes about Africa
I wrote the following in early February after my parents returned from a trip to the U.S. and brought with them Binyavanga Wainaina’s memoir One Day I Will Write About This Place I had ordered for my...
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The Attacks on Bayero University, Old Site, Sunday, 29 April 2012
This photo, taken by Mansur Ringim, and circulating on twitter and other news media this morning shows security vehicles entering the old campus. This will be a quick post, as I am feeling a little...
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The Caine Prize, the “Tragic Continent”, and the Politics of the “Happy...
Behind as usual in posting on this blog, I’m going to jump back in (with minimal apologies about my absence and the usual promises to catch up) with my most recent article, published today, “The Caine...
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In conversation with four Tiv filmmakers
Tiv filmmakers in Makurdi after a Nollywood conference at Benue State University: (left to right) Director Ralph Ogbaje, Producer John Agbaingya, Producer Kenneth Iornumbe, Producer and scriptwriter...
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Diary of a trip to four Nigerian cities
I apologize again for the long absence from this blog. I was not going to allow myself to post again until I handed in a chapter of my dissertation. However, this morning when I opened up the Weekly...
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Ramadan pieces from Last year: “Why, as a Christian, I Fast during Ramadan”...
I have been reading back recently over several of the articles I wrote last Ramadan, when I was fasting alongside my Muslim friends in Kano. It was the third year I was fasting, and I had settled into...
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Kano Hisbah to Prosecute Gossips
Blueprint yesterday carried a story that the Kano Hisbah Board will “prosecute idle people and those trading in the business of gossiping.” If this is true, this will be the harshest and most...
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Hajiya Balaraba Ramat Yakubu’s novel Alhaki Kuykuyo Ne/Sin is a Puppy...
Exciting news! Indian publisher Blaft has published an English translation, by Aliyu Kamal, of Balaraba Ramat Yakubu’s 1990 novel Alhaki Kuykuyo Ne. Aliyu Kamal is a professor in the English Department...
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A Tunanina: 2012 in review
Despite being a mathematical incompetent, I have grown more and more fascinated with statistics, especially when they have to do with my own blog. I have neglected this blog recently, in part, because...
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Making History with Balaraba Ramat Yakubu’s novel Sin is a Puppy… (a review)
A few months ago, I posted the news about the publication of a translation of Hajiya Balaraba Ramat Yakubu’s Alhaki Kuykuyo Ne as Sin is a Puppy… by Indian Publisher Blaft. On 3 November 2012 I...
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Conversation with Nkem Ivara, author of Closer than a Brother and literary...
The death of Chinua Achebe has been much on my mind that past few weeks. He was one of my favourite authors and a life mentor through his writing. I plan to post some of my thoughts on him by the end...
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In anticipation of tonight’s announcement by the Caine Prize for African Writing
Caine Prize Nominees Elnathan John, Abubakar Adam Ibrahim, Chinelo Okparanta and Pede Hollist gather around the platform after an event I have been absent from this blog for a long time, mostly because...
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25 Years in Nigeria
The McCain family in Gatwick airport 8 September 1988 on the way to Lagos. My dad reminded me this afternoon that today marks the 25th anniversary of the day our family moved to Nigeria. My parents...
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25 Years in Nigeria (the writerly version)
Last Sunday I posted a blog post full of photos and not too much text about how it had been 25 years (from 8 September 1988) since my family first moved to Nigeria. As I mentioned in that post, which I...
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Balaraba Ramat Yakubu’s novel Wa Zai Auri Jahila?, which questions child...
Hajiya Balaraba Ramat Yakubu, December 2012 (c) Carmen McCain Last month, Abuja-based Cassava Republic Press contacted me and asked if I would contribute a “book of the month” for their monthly book...
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Kofi Awoonor, Al Shabab, Boko Haram and the struggle for the New Dawn
(courtesy of the Story Moja Hay Festival site http://storymojahayfestival.com/) When I heard on Sunday morning, 22 September 2013 that the great Ghanaian poet Kofi Awoonor had been killed in the...
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Words Without Borders features African Women writing in Indigenous Languages
Image: Wangechi Mutu, “The Storm Has Finally Made It out of Me Alhamdulillah,” 2012. Collage on linoleum. Courtesy of Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects; Photo: Robert Wedemeyer (Words Without...
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A Film to Remember: Dul Johnson’s Tarok documentary “There is Nothing Wrong...
Dul Johnson at his 60th birthday celebration with the Association of Nigerian Authors, Jos Chapter, September 2013. (c) Carmen McCain The Plateau International Film Festival, which is scheduled to take...
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My Thoughts Exactly: Year Three in Review
I am working right now on a dissertation chapter on spectacle in Hausa films and currently on the “music video” portion of it. I actually had to come to my blog to find one of the songs I wanted to...
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