|
Royal African Society
The Royal African Society (RAS) of the United Kingdom was founded as the African Society in 1901 to promote relations between the United Kingdom and countries in Africa. It received a royal charter in 1935, when it acquired its present name. The RAS is a not-for-profit membership organisation based in London. In addition to producing its journal ''African Affairs'', formerly ''Journal of the African Society'', the RAS runs programmes in business, politics, the arts and education. In 2012, the society launched the Africa Writes festival, presented in partnership with the British Library, and now the UK's most prominent celebration of contemporary literature from Africa and the diaspora. History The establishment of the African Society in 1901 grew out of the travels of Mary Kingsley, an English writer and explorer who travelled to Africa several times in the 1890s and greatly influenced European study of the African continent. In 1893, she travelled to Luanda, Angola, where she lived ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The UK includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland, and most of List of islands of the United Kingdom, the smaller islands within the British Isles, covering . Northern Ireland shares Republic of Ireland–United Kingdom border, a land border with the Republic of Ireland; otherwise, the UK is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the English Channel, the Celtic Sea and the Irish Sea. It maintains sovereignty over the British Overseas Territories, which are located across various oceans and seas globally. The UK had an estimated population of over 68.2 million people in 2023. The capital and largest city of both England and the UK is London. The cities o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
International African Institute
The International African Institute (IAI) was founded (as the International Institute of African Languages and Cultures - IIALC) in 1926 in London for the study of African languages. Frederick Lugard was the first chairman (1926 to his death in 1945); Diedrich Hermann Westermann (1926 to 1939) and Maurice Delafosse (1926) were the initial co-directors. Since 1928, the IAI has published a quarterly journal, ''Africa''. For some years during the 1950s and 1960s, the assistant editor was the novelist Barbara Pym. The IAI's mission is "to promote the education of the public in the study of Africa and its languages and cultures". Its operations includes seminars, journals, monographs, edited volumes and stimulating scholarship within Africa. Publications The IAI has been involved in scholarly publishing since 1927. Scholars whose work has been published by the institute include Emmanuel K. Akyeampong, Samir Amin, Karin Barber, Alex de Waal, Patrick Chabal, Mary Douglas, E. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Swindon
Swindon () is a town in Wiltshire, England. At the time of the 2021 Census the population of the built-up area was 183,638, making it the largest settlement in the county. Located at the northeastern edge of the South West England region, Swindon lies on the M4 corridor, 84 miles (135 km) to the west of London and 36 miles (57 km) to the east of Bristol. The Cotswolds lie just to the town's north and the North Wessex Downs to its south. Recorded in the 1086 Domesday Book as ''Suindune'', the arrival of the Great Western Railway in 1843 transformed it from a small market town of 2,500 into a thriving railway hub that would become one of the largest Swindon Works, railway engineering complexes in the world at its peak. This brought with it pioneering amenities such as the UK's first lending library and a 'cradle-to-grave' healthcare centre that was later used as a blueprint for the NHS. Swindon's railway heritage can be primarily seen today with the grade 2 listed Railway Villag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leeds
Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. The city was a small manorial borough in the 13th century and a market town in the 16th century. It expanded by becoming a major production and trading centre (mainly with wool) in the 17th and 18th centuries. Leeds developed as a mill town during the Industrial Revolution alongside other surrounding villages and towns in the West Riding of Yorkshire. It was also known for its flax industry, iron foundries, engineering and printing, as well as shopping, with several surviving Victorian era arcades, such as Kirkgate Market. City status was awarded in 1893, and a populous urban centre formed in the following century which absorbed surrounding villages and overtook t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah
Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah is a Ghanaian feminist writer and blogger. She co-founded award-winning blog ''Adventures from the Bedrooms of African Women'' and has written for ''The Guardian'' and '' Open Democracy''. Sekyiamah is the Director for Communications manager at the Association for Women's Rights in Development and a member of the Black Feminism Forum Working Group which organised the historic first Black Feminist Forum in Bahia, Brazil. Life Sekyiamah was born in London, England, to Ghanaian parents, and grew up in Ghana. She has a diploma in performance coaching and a certificate in conflict mediation and has worked as a life coach and a public speaker. She was also awarded a Bachelor of Science degree in communications and cultural studies by the University of North London and a Master of Science degree in gender and development from the London School of Economics and Political Science. She has also worked as a leadership trainer for London's Metropolitan Police. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mona Eltahawy
Mona Eltahawy (, ; born August 1, 1967) is a freelance Egyptian-American journalist and social commentator based in New York City. She has written essays and op-eds for publications worldwide on Egypt and the Islamic world, on topics including women's rights, patriarchy, and Muslim political and social affairs. Her work has appeared in ''The Washington Post'', ''The New York Times'', ''Christian Science Monitor'', and the ''Miami Herald'' among others. ''Headscarves and Hymens'', Eltahawy's first book, was published in May 2015. Eltahawy has been a guest analyst on U.S. radio and television news shows. She is among people who spearheaded the Mosque Me Too movement by using the hashtag #MosqueMeToo. Eltahawy has spoken publicly at universities, panel discussions and interfaith gatherings on human rights and reform in the Islamic world, feminism and Egyptian Muslim–Christian relations, among other concerns. Early life Eltahawy was born in Port Said, Egypt. Her family moved to t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chigozie Obioma
Chigozie Obioma (1986) was born in Akure, Nigeria. He is the author of three novels The ''Fishermen'' (2015), An ''Orchestra of Minorities'' (2019) and ''The Road to the Country'' (2024). The Fishermen and An Orchestra of Minorities were finalists for The Booker Prize and have been translated into 30 languages. He has won an LA Times book prize, the Internationaler Literaturpris, FT/Oppenheimer prize for fiction, an NAACP Image award and has been nominated for two dozen prizes for fiction. He was named one of Foreign Policy’s 100 Leading Global Thinkers in 2015 and a 100 Most Influential Africans list by ''NewAfrican'' Magazine in 2015 and 2024. He served as a judge of the Booker prize in 2021. His work has appeared in the ''New York Times'', ''Guardian'', ''Financial Times'', ''Paris Review'', ''Granta'', and elsewhere. His third novel, ''The Road to the Country'', published in 2024 was longlisted for the Joyce Carol Oates Prize for fiction, the Dublin prize for fiction, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alain Mabanckou
Alain Mabanckou (born 24 February 1966) is a novelist, journalist, poet, and academic, a French citizen born in the Republic of the Congo, he is currently a Professor of Literature at UCLA. He is best known for his novels and non-fiction writing depicting the experience of contemporary Africa and the African diaspora in France, including ''Broken Glass'' (2005) and the Prix Renaudot-winning ''Memoirs of a Porcupine'' (2006)."Alain Mabanckou, l'enfant noir" "G.L.", ''Le Nouvel Observateur'', 19 August 2010. He is among the best known and most successful writers in the , [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nawal El Saadawi
Nawal El Saadawi (, , 22 October 1931 – 21 March 2021) was an Egyptian feminist writer, activist and physician. She wrote numerous books on the subject of women in Islam, focusing on the concerns of third-world women pertaining to sexuality, patriarchy, class, and colonialism. She was founder and president of the Arab Women's Solidarity Association and co-founder of the Arab Association for Human Rights. She was awarded honorary degrees on three continents. In 2004, she won the North–South Prize from the Council of Europe. In 2005, she won the Inana International Prize in Belgium,"PEN World Voices Arthur Miller Freedom to Write Lecture by Nawal El Saadawi" YouTube. 8 September 2009. and in 2012, the [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ben Okri
Sir Ben Golden Emuobowho Okri (born 15 March 1959) is a Nigerian-born British poet and novelist.Ben Okri" British Council, ''Writers Directory''. . Considered one of the foremost African authors in the postmodern and post-colonial traditions,"Ben Okri" Editors, ''The Guardian'', 22 July 2008. Okri has been compared favourably to authors such as |
Ama Ata Aidoo
Ama Ata Aidoo (23 March 1942 — 31 May 2023) was a Ghanaian author, poet, playwright, politician, and academic. She was a Secretary for Education in Ghana from 1982 to 1983 under Jerry Rawlings's PNDC administration. Her first play, '' The Dilemma of a Ghost'', was published in 1965, making Aidoo the first published female African dramatist. As a novelist, she won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize in 1992 with the novel ''Changes''. In 2000, she established the Mbaasem Foundation in Accra to promote and support the work of African women writers. Early life Christina Ama Ata Aidoo was born on 23 March 1942 in Abeadzi Kyiakor, near Saltpond, in the Central Region of Ghana. She was initially called Christiana Ama Aidoo. Some sources ( including Megan Behrent, Brown University, and ''Africa Who's Who'') have stated that she was born on 31 March. She had a twin brother, Kwame Ata. Aidoo was raised in a Fante royal household, the daughter of Nana Yaw Fama, chief of Abeadzi Kyia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wole Soyinka
Wole Soyinka , (born 13 July 1934) is a Nigerian author, best known as a playwright and poet. He has written three novels, ten collections of short stories, seven poetry collections, twenty five plays and five memoirs. He also wrote two translated works and many articles and short stories for many newspapers and periodicals. He is widely regarded as one of Africa's greatest writers and one of the world's most important dramatists. He was awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize in Literature for his "wide cultural perspective and poetic overtones fashioning the drama of existence". Born into an Anglican Yoruba family in Aké, Abeokuta, Soyinka had a preparatory education at Government College, Ibadan and proceeded to the University College Ibadan. During his education, he co-founded the Pyrate Confraternity. Soyinka left Nigeria for England to study at the University of Leeds. During that period, he was the editor of the university's magazine, ''The Eagle'', before becoming a full-t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
