At a time that Transport Minister Collins Dauda has told the press that they are considering land at Prampram for a new airport, let it just be said that according to a GHANAWEB piece back in 1998, that land had apparently been acquired. (http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ghanaweb.com%2FGhanaHomePage%2FNewsArchive%2Fartikel.php%3FID%3D3331&h=eAQF4SW67AQHua0qIHx54ZGYtQD5Iq4xk0E1dutTHqlZvyw&enc=AZPq10pfBpjQnWme8MQdz4ygNYifQFibhvyq8QvgwCTuR9aPrBW-9vL4gCHnkqamBd_zLGr74VKpmR7nTgIwC7SR), so what had been happening 14 years later that neither the NPP nor NDC governments had broached the issue?

I don't know how many proponents of a relocation exist in the country, but I would be happy to see the media continue to put pressure on the Minister to:

[view whole blog post ]

Il y a un mois, TerangaWeb s'est joint à l'Observatoire de la Diversité Culturelle et à mon blog littéraire pour organiser une table ronde sur le thème du rôle et de la place de l'écrivain dans nos sociétés. Sujet ouvert qui présente un intérêt certain à la fois pour le romancier, l'éditeur et le lecteur. L'ambition de cette rencontre était de permettre cette interaction entre ces trois éléments.

Pour échanger autour de cette question, les écrivains Raharimanana, Yahia Belaskri se sont prêtés à cet exercice en compagnie de Bernard Magnier, directeur de la collection Lettres africaines chez Actes Sud et organisateur du festival ...

[view whole blog post ]

(Thanks to @zulusafari for the images today) "The ground is barely scratched", quipped Rebecca Wanjiku, a local tech infrastructure entrepreneur and iHub advisory board member, on stage today at Pivot East. And she's right, there are a wealth of opportunities in the region. When asked "Why are there so many apps being built in Kenya?", [...]

[view whole blog post ]

Here's the fourth installment in my blogging of the Caine shortlist, along with others in a ZunguZungu-led coterie of bloggers. The story I'm reviewing is Melissa Tandiwe Myambo's "La Salle de Depart" (pdf).

This is the first of the Caine stories which actually seeks to thoroughly understand the characters that it depicts. Fatima is wonderfully drawn, and in beautiful sentences and fantastic imagery that is both tender and unsparing in its honesty. What you get is a real economy in the sense that we are told everything we need to know about the characters to neither excuse nor rebuke them, but to understand them. You can almost see the tension as Fatima seeks the words to ask Ibou about Babacar, you see the resentment and even the inadequacy that goes into Ibou's rejection. In the salle de ...

[view whole blog post ]

This is the third installment of Locked Up for Writing, in which I highlight stories of African journalists who are silenced and restricted from practicing press freedom in their respective countries. Part 1 featured Fasil Yenealem Agegnehu, part 2 Aaron ... Continue reading →

[view whole blog post ]

Today we launched a new, updated Afropop.org. The new site we hope you find more engaging, user-friendly, and easier to read. In addition, this new website will allow you greater flexibility linking to various programs and pages via your social network accounts. You can also now subscribe to us through any web syndication format!

So we will no longer be blogging here. Instead, you can find all further blog posts, features, programs and content via our new website.

[view whole blog post ]

Five years ago, nothing grew well in Barafo Théra's family farm, which lies in the community of Damy in Mali. Nothing, that is, except for a weed called striga. Striga is a parasitic plant that attaches itself to the roots of host plants, sapping them of nutrients. What this means for farmers like Mr. Théra [...]

[view whole blog post ]

Heart Of Diamonds will be featured at Books Without Borders, a day-long festival of books, authors, music, and other attractions on the Yonkers, NY, waterfront Saturday, June 9.

Books Without Borders will encompass the entire waterfront beginning at the wonderful Yonkers Riverfront Library and continuing past the Yonkers Metro North Train Station through Ella Fitzgerald Park and culminating at the picturesque Pier and Amphitheater on the Hudson River.

[view whole blog post ]

Here's the fourth installment in my blogging of the Caine shortlist, along with others in a ZunguZungu-led coterie of bloggers. The story I'm reviewing is Melissa Tandiwe Myambo's "La Salle de Depart" (pdf).

This is the first of the Caine stories which actually seeks to thoroughly understand the characters that it depicts. Fatima is wonderfully drawn, and in beautiful sentences and fantastic imagery that is both tender and unsparing in its honesty. What you get is a real economy in the sense that we are told everything we need to know about the characters to neither excuse nor rebuke them, but to understand them. You can almost see the tension as Fatima seeks the words to ask Ibou about Babacar, you see the resentment and even the inadequacy that goes into Ibou's rejection. In the salle de ...

[view whole blog post ]