The 2024 edition of the All African Women Poetry Festival (AAWP Festival) is scheduled to take place in Ghana this week from Thursday 23 to Sunday 26 May, 2024. 

In this four-day thread of events, specifically curated to educate and enhance playfulness, the festival will celebrate the legacy of Ghanaian playwright Efua Theodora Sutherland under the theme “Poetry & Play.” The events will be hosted at the W.E.B Dubois Memorial Centre and the Foundation for Contemporary Art in Accra.

Some of the scheduled guests, panellists and performers at this year’s festival include Moyosola Olowokure, Winnie Madoro, Nyangari Macharia, Claudia Owusu, Deborah Johnson, Effie Nkrumah, Titilope Sonuga, Maryam Bukar Hassan (Alhanislam), Mo’Africa Wa Mokgathi (born Muriel Mokgathi-Mvubu), vangile gantsho, Theresa Ankomah, Agness Panfred and Vivian Boateng, among others.

The noteworthy events in this year’s showcase include an exclusive listening of Sonuga’s latest album SIS (scheduled for Thursday 23 May), the “Writing as an African” panel which features literary experts Prof. Helen Yitah and Prof Anne Adams, and the “Publish Her Inked Realities” panel which features literary experts Ama Dadson, Akoss Ofori-Mensah and Akuvi Agueze. There is also the Voice On Words (VOW) competition, a poetry contest featuring high school students.

 The AAWP Festival seeks to celebrate African literature and literary legends, empower African women, women of African descent and the African Diaspora, educate the youth, and engage with marginalised communities through sustainable events, programming, and projects. The festival hosts poets, spoken word artists and stakeholders in shaping the African narrative from across the continent and the African diaspora, in a bid to foster collaboration, networking, and knowledge sharing. 

One key element of the festival is the annual honouring of one female literary legend. This year, the focus is on Efua Theodora Sutherland (1924-1996), playwright, director, dramatist, children’s author, poet, educationalist, researcher, child advocate, and cultural activist. Sutherland’s works include the plays Foriwa (1962), Edufa (1967) and The Marriage Of Anansewa (1975).

Visit the festival’s official website to learn more about this year’s lineup of events.

Nigerian-born author Atinuke’s book Brilliant Black British History has clinched the prize for Children’s Non-Fiction Book of the Year at this year’s British Book Awards.

This was revealed at the award ceremony held on 13 May 2024 at Grosvenor House, London.

Illustrated by Kingsley Nebechi, the book saw off stiff competition from the likes of Sathnam Sanghera’s Stolen History, Leon Diop’s Black and Irish, Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara’s King Charles Volume 97 and Adam Kay’s Kay Incredible Inventions.

Celebrating her win, Atinuke stressed the importance of documentation and owning narratives:

“For hundreds of years, people, children, men, women, were sold in Britain on the equivalent of eBay, with the excuse being the colour of their skin, and we have stories of children in London being dragged by their hair through the streets when they tried to escape. Me standing here and winning this award for a Black history of Britain would’ve been beyond the wildest dreams of those enslaved people. One of the things that has made this possible is books. The autobiographies of Prince [Olaudah] Equiano and [Frederick] Douglass changed the minds of the British public about the institution of slavery. So, books are incredibly important, stories are incredibly important and we still don’t live in an equal and fair and safe society. But if we keep writing our books and keep telling our stories then maybe one day we will and all our wildest dreams will come true.”

Born in Ibadan and raised in Lagos, Atinuke is an author of children’s books and an oral storyteller of traditional African folktales. She is an award-winning author of over 20 children’s books based on her life in Nigeria and other African stories. Some of her books include Anna Hibiscus, Baby Goes to Market, Too Small Tola, Catch That Chicken and The No. 1 Car Spotter, among others. She lives in Wales

Brilliant Black British History is an eye-opening story of Britain, focusing on parts of British culture that have mostly been left out of history books. The incredible journey through time is brought to life through Atinuke’s fascinating storytelling and illustrated scenes, detailed maps, and timelines. Through her eyes, readers get to learn that the first Britons were Black and that some of the Roman soldiers who ruled Britain were Black, among other previously suppressed facts.

Covering a range of topics from science and sport to literature and law, Atinuke celebrates the brilliant Black people who have helped build Britain. Children can learn about key historical topics such as the world wars, slavery, the Industrial Revolution, Windrush, and the Black Lives Matter movement.

The British Book Awards, also known as “the Nibbies”, has been the book trade’s leading awards since 1990. These awards celebrate authors and illustrators, and showcase the industry behind the scenes that help bring the books to readers. Judged by leading industry experts, authors, journalists and celebrities, the Nibbies are regarded as “the BAFTAs of the book trade.’’

Click here to see the full list of winners.

The African Book Festival Berlin, the first festival in the German capital that focuses on literature from Africa and the diaspora, returns for another edition.

The stars of contemporary African literature will be gathered at Alte Münze in Berlin-Mitte from 28th to 30th June 2024.

This year, the festival will be the Queer Edition, focusing on African and Afro-diasporic authors from the LGBTQI+ community and showcasing literature in which homosexuality and queerness in Africa play a role.

As part of a three-day festival program consisting of readings, discussions, music, poetry performances and interactive, modern event formats, the audience will have the opportunity to experience stars and newcomers live and engage in conversation with them. The program is accompanied by a large outdoor market offering a variety of food, goods and, of course, plenty of books.

The African Book Festival offers its festival guests a brave space for their writing, experiences and perspectives. It addresses the persecution of homo-, bi-, trans and intersex people as well as genderqueer people worldwide and raises awareness. At the same time, the festival presents writers who in their writing celebrate one thing above all: Love.

The African Book Festival Berlin is organised by InterKontinental eV,  a state-approved non-profit association based in Berlin since 2018. The association’s goal is to promote literature from Africa and writers from African countries in Germany. It designs writing workshops to foster new talent and sets up small publication projects in exchange for donations to support its activities. 

This year’s guest list includes A. Igoni Barrett, Ani Kayode Somtochukwu, Ayodele Olofintuade, Francesca Ekwuyasi, Jude Dibia, Stella Nyanzi and Tlotlo Tsamaase, among others.

 The African Book Festival Berlin runs from 28th – 30th June. A 3-day festival pass costs 38€, while a day pass is 20€. Find out more here.

The Jhalak Prize has announced the longlist for its 2024 edition, with five African authors getting the nod.

In announcing the books that made the cut, the organisers were effusive in their praise for the longlisted authors.

“Delighted to announce the longlists for Jhalak Prize…each of these books is a literary gem, to be admired, loved and treasured forever. Our immense gratitude to the writers, creatives, publishers for bringing us this treasure trove!”,  they stated via the Prize’s official Instagram account.

The five African books on the full longlist of twelve include:

River Spirit by Leila Aboulela (Saqi Books)

Azucar by Nii Ayikwwei Parkes (Peepal Tree Press)

Small Worlds by Caleb Azumah Nelson (Penguin)

Anansi’s Gold: The Man Who Swindled The World by Yepoka Yeebo (Bloomsbury)

Twelve Words for Moss by Elizabeth Jane Burnett (Penguin)

First launched in March 2017, the Jhalak Prize seek to celebrate books by British/British resident Black and Middle Eastern writers. The prize is unique in that it accepts entries published in the UK by writers of colour. These include (and are not limited to) fiction, non-fiction, short stories, graphic novels, poetry and all other genres.

The Jhalak Prize awards £1000 to each winner, along with a unique work of art created by artists chosen for the annual Jhalak Art Residency. Furthermore, all short-listed authors receive a one-year complimentary membership of The London Library, the UK’s largest independent library. Each winner receives a two-year complimentary membership.

The judges for this year’s edition of the Jhalak Prize are Anni Domingo, Stella Oni, Denise Saul, Danielle Jawando, J.P Rose and Rashmi Sirdeshpande. The winner of the Prize will be announced on 30th May 2024.

The Quramo Writers’ Prize, powered by independent Nigerian book publisher Quramo Publisher, is calling on African writers to submit for its 2024 Edition!

Now in its eighth year, the Prize is open to unpublished African writers living within and outside the continent.

Entrants must be at least 16 years old, and the manuscript must be prose fiction with a word count of at least 30,000. Each entry must be an original, unpublished work.

For the context of this prize, an “African writer” is taken to mean someone who is a national of an African country, with a parent who is African by birth or nationality. The Prize is awarded to a fiction prose manuscript by an African writer published in English, whether they reside in Africa or elsewhere. 

The winner of the Quramo Writers’ Prize will receive a monetary prize and a publishing deal. Other writers who make the shortlist will also benefit from a creative writing workshop and miscellaneous prizes.

Created in 2017 as an avenue for fresh writers to showcase their manuscripts to the global literary community and contribute their works to the canonisation of African literature, the Quramo Writers’ Prize celebrates unpublished writers who are working every day to hone their craft and record original stories from the African continent. 

The prize aims to encourage and stimulate a new community of talented writers, providing an opportunity for otherwise unexposed talent to achieve publishing recognition and encouragement. Previous winners include Samuel Monye’s Give Us Each Day, Ibrahim Babatunde Ibrahim’s Giveaway Bride, Alex Kadiri’s Sunshower and Chiziterem Chijioke’s Dear Zimi.

Quramo Publishing also has a film production wing, where it brings its published books to the big screen and produces commissioned projects.

The submission window, which opened on March 1, closes on May 31, 2024. For more information, click here:

The Women’s Prize for Fiction has announced the longlist for its 2024 edition, and in a delightful turn of events, two African authors were included in the compilation of nominees.

Ethiopian-American author Maya Binyam was longlisted for her debut novel Hangman, while Liberian-born Ghanaian writer Peace Adzo Medie made the list for her second novel Nightbloom.

The 2024 Women’s Prize for Fiction Longlist comprises a total of 16 titles. The judging panel for the 2024 Prize includes chair Monica Ali, Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀, Laura Dockrill, Indira Varma, and Anna Whitehouse.

In making the announcement, Monica Ali noted the originality and brilliance that permeated each of the longlisted titles.

“With the strength and vitality of contemporary women’s fiction very much in evidence, reading the entries for this year’s Women’s Prize for Fiction has been a joyful experience. Each one of these books is brilliant, original and utterly unputdownable. Collectively, they offer a wide array of compelling narratives from around the world, written with verve, wit, passion and compassion”, she said.

Maya Binyam is a writer whose work has appeared in The New Yorker, Bookforum, Columbia Journalism Review, and The New York Times Book Review, among other publications. She is a contributing editor at The Paris Review, and she has previously worked as an editor at Triple Canopy and The New Inquiry, and as a lecturer in the New School’s Creative Publishing and Critical Journalism program. Her book, Hangman, is the tragicomic journey of a man who returns home to sub-Saharan Africa after 26 years of living in exile in America. It is a hilarious and twisted odyssey, peopled by phantoms and tricksters, aid workers and taxi drivers, the relatives and riddles that lead him along a circuitous path towards the truth. 

Peace Adzo Medie is an academic and writer of both fiction and nonfiction. In 2020, she published her debut novel His Only Wife as well as her scholarly work Global Norms and Location Action: The Campaigns to End Violence Against Women in Africa. Her longlisted book, Nightbloom, takes a keen-eyed look at family, class and discrimination in Ghana and the US, in this irresistible story of female friendship, the relationships that shape us and the people we never quite leave behind.

The Women’s Prize for Fiction is one of the world’s most successful, influential and popular literary prizes, championing and amplifying women’s voices and nurturing a global community of readers. The Prize was established in 1996 to highlight and remedy the imbalance in coverage, respect and reverence given to women writers versus their male peers, creating a platform for exceptional writing by women to shine. 

The Prize is awarded annually to the author of the best full-length novel of the year written in English and published in the UK. The winner receives £30,000, anonymously endowed, and the ‘Bessie’, a bronze statuette created by the artist Grizel Niven. 

The winner of this year’s award will be announced at Women’s Prize Live, taking place on 12th June 2024.

The Dylan Thomas Prize, powered by Swansea University, has announced its longlist for this year’s edition of the prestigious literary award, and two of Africa’s finest writers have made the cut.

Nigerian novelist Ayobami Adebayo earned the nod for her book A Spell of Good Things, while British-Ghanaian writer and photographer Caleb Azumah Nelson was longlisted for his novel Small Worlds. 

The international longlist, unveiled on Thursday, January 25th, comprises a total of 12 titles from authors representing the UK, Nigeria, Trinidad & Tobago, the US, Canada, and Hong Kong. 

Reacting to the announcement, Adebayo took to her Instagram account to share her excitement.

“Thrilled that A Spell of Good Things has been longlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize!!! Quite delighted to be in such stellar company. #aspellofgoodthings #dylanthomasprize.”

A Spell of Good Things (2023, Canongate Books), Adebayo’s second novel, examines the jarring disparity in class divide, the fickle nature of the middle class, and the ricocheting effects of social inequality in Nigeria. Just like her award-winning debut novel Stay With Me (2017), this book is set in South-Western Nigeria, and has been praised for its use of language that is rich in cultural nuances.

 Small Worlds (2023, Penguin Books) is a follow-up to Nelson’s debut effort Open Water (2021). It is an exhilarating and expansive novel that explores the intricacies of fatherhood, faith and friendship. It has been praised for being “vulnerable” and “expertly “written.”

Launched in 2004, The Dylan Thomas Prize is an annual award named in honour of the Welsh writer and poet Dylan Thomas (1914-1953, and it comes with a remuneration of £30,000. It is open to published writers in the English language under the age of forty. The prize honours writers for published work in the broad range of literary forms in which Dylan Thomas excelled, including poetry, prose, fictional drama, short story collections, novels, novellas, stage plays and screenplays. Previous winners include Arinze Ifeakandu’s God’s Children Are Little Broken Things (2023), Patricia Lockwood’s No One is Talking About This (2022), and Raven Leilani’s Luster (2021).

The winner for the 2024 edition will be awarded on May 16 in Swansea, coinciding with the celebration of International Dylan Thomas Day on May 14.

Malorie Blackman, Wretch 32 and John Agard To Headline The Festival

Stormzy’s award-winning publishing imprint #Merky Books has announced its literature festival, taking place on 22–23 April 2023. Sponsored by Netflix, the two-day event aims to demystify creative industries and inspire a new generation of creatives. The free festival will showcase established authors alongside new voices and include a range of talks, workshops and live performances. It will cover not only literature, but writing and storytelling across film and TV, music and photography.

The headline event on Saturday 22 April is a panel discussion with Wretch 32 and John Agard, followed by an opening party hosted by Sounds by No Signal. Malorie Blackman – former Children’s Laureate and author of the award-winning Noughts and Crosses series – will be interviewed by Vick Hope on Sunday 23 April.

Details of the festival line-up were released on Roundhouse’s website and include a spoken-word performance with Sophia Thakur, Monika Radojevic, Caleb Femi and Yomi Sode; a creative funding session with finance expert Bola Sol; a panel discussion exploring the theme of girlhood with bestselling author Candice Brathwaite and playwright and screenwriter Theresa Ikoko; and a conversation on mental health and resilience hosted by BBC Radio 1Xtra presenter Richie Brave.

Guests will be able to attend workshops, masterclasses and screenings taking place throughout the weekend, as well as career drop-in clinics held by Penguin Random House, #Merky Books, Netflix and expert industry organisations such as MYM: Million Youth Media. Lit in Colour – Penguin Random House’s programme dedicated to diversifying the school curriculum – will run a stand, while Run The Check will hold ‘Ask Me Anything’ sessions each day. Panels of experts will unpack a range of roles within the creative industry, giving tangible advice and insights into how to get in, the skills needed and how to thrive.

Independent bookseller Round Table Books will run a bookshop throughout the weekend.

Stormzy says: ‘I’m so proud that we’re able to offer a free festival to inspire young creatives. This is going to be our biggest event yet for #Merky Books.’

Lemara Lindsay-Prince, Senior Commissioning Editor for #Merky Books, says: ‘At #Merky Books, we are committed to breaking down barriers in the publishing industry and investing in the voices of today and tomorrow. We are incredibly excited to host our first ever literary festival in partnership with Netflix and proud to put on an event that speaks directly to our core values – going even further to demystify the creative industries, empower a new generation of talent and offer an insight into the range of careers in the arts.’

Anne Mensah, VP UK Content says: ‘At Netflix, we believe that creativity and the UK Creative Industries must be for all. Without everyone’s voices represented in the arts, we are so much lesser than we should be. Events like the #Merky Books Literature Festival open up our industry to young people and show the range of real and accessible careers available to them. We are thrilled to be supporting our friends at #Merky to make this happen.’

Headline act, Wretch 32 says: ‘I’m excited to join such an inspirational line-up from #Merky Books and Netflix. It’s so important to encourage and support young people across the full range of creative industries.’

The festival is free to attend. Event passes will be available from Roundhouse’s website, with further sign-ups for workshops and masterclasses at the venue on the day.

To book your place and to find out more visit:

Africa Writes returns for an exciting summer weekend at the British Library celebrating the best contemporary literature from Africa and the diaspora.

Save the dates in your diaries for a rich and vibrant programme of book launches, panel discussions, performances, masterclasses, education events, family workshops and an international book fair.

Not only will there be an exciting programme of events in London, but this year Africa Writes announces a Bristol edition of the festival, which will be held in venues around the city, Saturday 29th June to Thursday 4th July.

Find out more about Africa Writes here.