African Writers Evening

AFRICAN WRITERS’ EVENING featuring Lola Jaye & Peter Kalu
Friday 19 March 2010, 7.30pm (doors)
Poetry Cafe, 22 Betterton Street, London (Covent Garden tube)
4.00 / 3.00 (conc)
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This March, African Writers’ Evening features veteran Nigerian writer Peter Kalu all the way down from Manchester for a début AWE reading in London. Alongside him will be Lola Jaye, also from Nigeria, who will be reading from her newish novel, While You Were Dreaming. In an all West African affair, the event will be hosted by SABLE magazine founder and editor Kadija Sesay, who will also introduce work from a groundbreaking anthology, ‘Dreams, Miracles and Jazz’, co-edited by Helon Habila. As usual, there will be floor spots from some of the emerging African writers on the UK scene.

BIOS:
Pete Kalu is a poet, novelist, editor, activist and playwright. He started writing as a member of the Moss Side Write black writers workshop. Writing prizes he has won include: Pants, Winner, BBC/Contact Theatre Dangerous Comedy Award;  Hills Trees Green Stuff, winner, Bradford and Cumbria Playscript competitions;  No Trace, Winner, Black Film Festival Award. Pete is the author of six novels, and numerous radio and theatre plays under his own name as well as under several pseudonyms. He is an editor for North West of England based publishers, Crocus and Suitcase Press.
Website:  www.peterkalu.co.uk

LOLA JAYE:
Lola Jaye was born and raised in London and has also lived in Nigeria. Her first novel, ‘By The Time You Read This…’ was published by Harper Collins in 2008 and she contributed to the National Quick Read campaign on World Book Day in 2009 by writing a self-help book, ‘Reaching for The Stars – How to Make Your Dreams Come True’. Lola’s second novel, ‘While You Were Dreaming…’ was published in May 2009 and her work has been translated into several languages including Korean and German.
Website: www.lolajaye.com

AFRICAN WRITERS’ EVENING feat. Nadifa Mohammed & a parade of emerging writers
Friday 20 November 2009, 7.30pm
Weston Pavilion, Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX
FREE (Invitation only – please send your name by e-mail to events [at] x-bout [DOT] com

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For our annual finale, African Writers’ Evening returns to its exploratory origins – with four short readings from emerging writers, followed by a featured reading from Nadifa Mohammed, a Somalian writer who is herself still waiting for the release of her first novel by HarperCollins. Hosted by Nii Ayikwei Parkes.

Nadifa Mohamed

NADIFA MOHAMED – Born in Hargeisa, Somalia in 1981 as the country fell into dictatorship, Nadifa Mohamed moved to London with her family in 1986, just before the beginnings of civil war as Siad Barre lost his grip on power. She was educated in London and went to Oxford to study History and Politics. Her début novel, Black Mamba Boy, based on the true story of her father’s life in 1930s, was acquired by HarperCollins UK in 2008. Nadifa is currently working on her second novel.

AFRICAN WRITERS’ EVENING feat. Mohammed N. Ali & Patrice Nganang
Friday 11 September 2009, 7.00pm (doors open)
Venue: The Bowery Club, 308 Bowery, New York 10012 (Between Houston and Bleecker – F train to 2nd Ave, 6 to Bleecker)
Ticket: $10

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After six years running in the UK, where we have gone from humble beginnings in the storied Poetry Café to regular events at London’s leading arts venue, the Southbank Centre, African Writers’ Evening heads to New York to share some work from West and Central Africa. Former NYPL fellow, Mohammed Naseehu Ali (Ghana) reads alongside Grand Prix Littéraire de l’Afrique Noire winner Patrice Nganang (Cameroon) in what promises to be a scintillating evening of some of the best literature coming out of Africa. Join us on Friday 11 September, 2009 for a groundbreaking evening in New York. Hosted by author and publisher Nii Ayikwei Parkes.

Patrice Nganang

Patrice Nganang
Born in Yaoundé, Cameroon in 1970, Patrice studied Comparative Literature at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University (Germany), from which he also holds a PhD. He published a collection of poems, Elobi, in 1995, and has since written four novels, of which the most acclaimed is Temps de chien, which was awarded the Prix Marguerite Yourcenar (2001) and the Grand Prix Littéraire de l’Afrique Noire (2002). Temps de chien has been translated into German (Hundezeiten) and English (Dog Days, University of Virginia Press).

Patrice is Assistant Professor of Literary Theory at SUNY – Stony Brook and is a recognised African literature specialist contributing regularly to academic journals around the world.

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Mohammed N. Ali

Mohammed Naseehu Ali
Born in Kumasi, Ghana in 1971, Mohammed Naseehu Ali is a writer and musician. A 2007 New York Public Library Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers fellow, he is the author of the short story collection, The Prophet of Zongo Street (Amistad, 2005).  As a musician he has composed original soundtracks for independent movies and written music for DVD trivia games based on the blockbusters Shrek and Madagascar. Mohammed is a graduate of Bennington College and his fiction and essays have featured in publications such as The New Yorker, The New York Times, Mississippi Review, Bomb, Gathering of the Tribes and Essence. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.