Africa: Stories in the 55 RFI English
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- 사회 및 문화
A monthly programme on African authors, book publishing and news throughout the 55 countries on the continent, hosted by RFI's Laura Angela Bagnetto.
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Camaraderie and Irish attitudes in Nigerian writer’s short story collection
Poignant, upsetting, at times quite funny, the short story collection This Hostel Life, from Nigerian novelist Melatu Uchenna Okorie, elicits a response. Okorie’s stories stem from her life and the lives of others, ranging from childbirth in rural Nigeria to racism in rural Ireland.
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Helon Habila's novel 'Travelers' explores the lives of Africans in exile
In Nigerian author Helon Habila’s latest novel, “Travelers”, Habila brings African expat and migrant stories to life in a number of short stories that are woven into a complex narrative of safety, identity, loss, and love. He also reflects on his own experiences, dealing with homesickness in “a new place that you’re trying to make sense of.”
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Contrasting images of his native Nigeria in Nnamdi Ehirin's debut novel, The Prince of Monkeys
In April's Stories from the 55 podcast, Laura Angela Bagnetto speaks to Nnamdi Ehirin from Nigeria about a coming-of-age story called The Prince of Monkeys. The author also reads an extract from his work.
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South African novelist Mphuthumi Ntabeni shines a light on the Xhosa narrative
In this month's Africa: Stories in the 55, South African writer Mphuthumi Ntabeni describes his twenty-year journey into the mind of Maqoma, a chief in the Xhosa community who lived in the 1800s. Ntabeni uses Maqoma's lifelong struggle against the British as the backdrop for his novel The Broken River Tent, as Maqoma guides modern-day character Phila through the realities of fighting for their land.
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Life and sensuality in a refugee camp in Suliaman Addonia's "Silence is My Mother Tongue"
In "Silence is My Mother Tongue", the latest novel by Eritrean-Ethiopian writer Sulaiman Addonia, teen Saba and her brother Hagos arrive at a refugee camp in Sudan, where she is determined to continue her studies, while he is content to take care of her. The other Eritrean refugees bring their conservative views to the camp, especially when it comes to women. Addonia brings Saba to life through her fight to determine her own future, refusing the traditional restrictions imposed on her gender.
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Somali writer Ubah Cristina Ali Farah speaks of trauma intertwined with beauty in her story "Jujube"
In this month’s Africa: Stories in the 55, Somali-Italian writer Ubah Cristina Ali Farah speaks about her character, Ayan, a Somali refugee seeking asylum. Ayan tells part of her own story that may not be clear, or true, due to the trauma she had suffered.