Reading Groups

Contemporary African Novels with Nana Brew-Hammond

Five Sessions Wednesdays, 6:30 pm EDT - 8:00 pm EDT January 10 to May 1, 2024

Online via Zoom

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The ‘With Books’ option includes all titles required for this group at a 10% discount from our Bookstore.

Meeting Dates:
1/10, 2/7, 3/6, 4/3, 5/1
Online via Zoom

Africa is a continent of 54 countries and three territories, covering 11,724,00 square miles, populated by an estimated 1.216 billion people who speak thousands of languages and practice thousands of cultures. Its history and politics are storied, as are its resources, and though much has been written about the ways colonialism and the slave trades have impacted Africa and Africans, and how politics and poverty have gutted its economies, there just aren’t enough books, nor is there enough time, to fully grasp its richness or diversity. With this course, we eschew broad strokes and generalizations for the nuance of stories anchored in highly specific contemporary scenarios and regional settings with the hope that what we glean will inspire deeper understanding and a hunger to read even more.

Please read The Eternal Audience of One by Rémy Ngamije in advance of the first session.

Session I: The Eternal Audience of One by Rémy Ngamije
Session II: The Tent by Miral al-Tahawy
Session III: Things They Lost by Okwiri Oduor
Session IV: Mr. Fix-It by Richard Ali A Mutu
Session V: The Nigerwife by Vanessa Walters

What to expect from this reading group: This will be a conversational, participant-driven discussion experience.

Led by

Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond

Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond

Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond is the author of the children’s picture book Blue: A History of the Color as Deep as the Sea and as Wide as the Sky, illustrated by Caldecott Honor Artist Daniel Minter. Named among the best books of 2022 by NPR, New York Public Library, Chicago Public Library, Kirkus Reviews, The Center for the Study of Multicultural Literature, and Bank Street College of Education, Blue was honored with the 2023 NCTE Orbis Pictus Award® recognizing excellence in the writing of non-fiction for children, included on the Texas Bluebonnet Award Master List, and nominated for an NAACP Image Award. Brew-Hammond also wrote the young adult novel Powder Necklace, which Publishers Weekly called “a winning debut”, and she edited Relations: An Anthology of African and Diaspora Voices, of which Kirkus Reviews said in a starred review: “This smart, generous collection is a true gift.” Every month, Brew-Hammond co-leads a writing fellowship whose mission is to write light into darkness.

Photo Credit: Essie Brew Hammond; EXIT (Clothing)

About this series

Reading Groups

Whether you’re looking to catch up on great novels or you’re interested in exploring a new writer or literary period, our reading groups offer high-level literary discussion led by experts in the field.

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