Russian Publisher Rewrites Books on Vladimir Putin Without Western Authors’ Consent
In the original 2012 form of “Expelled: A Journalist’s Descent Into the Russian Mafia State,” the British journalist Luke Harding gives a personal account of the harassment he and his family experienced at the hands of the F.S.B., the chief successor agency to the K.G.B. It covers his time in Russia as he reported on […]
Iraq is rushing to digitize its national library under the threat of ISIS
The dimly-lit, dust-caked stacks of the Baghdad National Library hide a treasure of the ages: crinkled, yellowing papers holding the true stories of sultans and kings; imperialists and socialists; occupation and liberation; war and peace. These are the original chronicles of Iraq’s rich and tumultuous history — and now librarians and academics in Baghdad are […]
Between Rhetoric and Reality
“Magnificent and Beggar Land: Angola Since the Civil War” is an expertly researched and simply told historical and political overview of one of sub- Saharan Africa’s least understood countries. Author Ricardo Soares de Oliveira, an associate professor in comparative politics at the University of Oxford, combines academic research with a storyteller’s powers of observation after […]
Zimbabwean Novelist Chenjerai Hove Dies in Exile
One of Zimbabwe’s best known writers, Chenjerai Hove, has died in Norway at the age of 59. The exact cause of death is not clear but he suffered from liver problems, his wife Tekla Hove told the BBC. Mr Hove was known as a critic of President Robert Mugabe and went into self-imposed exile in […]
Zambian Writer Wins Top African Literary Award
The story “The Sack” by Zambian writer Namwali Serpell was selected as the winner of this year’s Caine Prize, the top accolade for African short story writers. South African author and chair of the panel of judges Zoë Wicomb praised the story, calling it “formally innovative, stylistically stunning, haunting and enigmatic in its effects.” RFI […]
