The Explorer

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For all the bookworms: 5 bookstores that seel ‘alternative’ literature

The Daily Vox team looks at five places that provide alternative literature to what’s in the mainstream.

Chinelo Okparanta, Dinaw Mengestu and Yaa Gyasi make Granta’s list of the best young American novelists

Granta has chosen its third list of the ‘Best of Young American Novelists’, including the Nigeria-born Chinelo Okparanta, Ethiopia-born Dinaw Mengestu and Ghana-born Yaa Gyasi.

‘Poverty porn’ debate raging around Fiston Mwanza Mujila’s award-winning novel Tram 83

Have you heard about the heated conversation taking place about Congolese author Fiston Mwanza Mujila’s award-winning novel Tram 83? Brittle Paper has got you covered.

African comic book writers to watch – including Loyiso Mkize and Lauren Beukes

The Arcade has compiled a list of must-read African comic books, including Nigeria’s Comic Republic, Loyiso Mkize’s Kwezi and Lauren Beukes’s All the Pretty Ponies.

Musa Okwonga reviews Irenosen Okojie’s Speak Gigantular

Irenosen Okojie is a remarkable writer. I discovered this late last year, when her second book Speak Gigantular, a collection of extraordinary short stories – was submitted by Jacaranda Books for the Jhalak Prize, a literary award for writers from et

The LA Review of Books explores the tension in the world of Egyptian Surrealism

LARB looks at current representations of the Art and Liberty Group, an avant-garde movement also known as Egypt’s Surrealists.

Read Namwali Serpell’s introduction to a new edition of Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o’s Devil on the Cross

The New York Review of Books has published apiece adapted from Namwali Serpell’s introduction to Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o’s Devil on the Cross, just published in a new edition by Penguin Classics.

2017 International Dublin Literary Award shortlist announced

Three African authors have been shortlisted for the 2017 International Dublin Literary Award – the ‘world’s richest literary prize’.

Times Literary Supplement features Henrietta Rose-Innes’ Nineveh

Henrietta Rose-Innes’ Nineveh recently graced the pages of the Times Literary Supplement.

Niq Mhlongo writes about The Marabi Dance by Modikwe Dikobe for PEN SA

There is a book that when you’re all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was your old friend or a relative of yours that you could call up on a phone and congratulate them on the excellent work. That is what Modikwe Dikobe’s Marabi Dance did to me. The book left me with a sense of satisfaction and completeness.