Bassey Ikpi
Jamati: Can you tell us about your background includig your origin, childhood, education, etc.?
I was born in Ikom, Cross River State in Nigeria. My people are Yakuur from Ugepland. I left Nigeria when I was about 4 years old for Stillwater, Oklahoma. I started writing in Stillwater when I was 8 years old because it was such a culture shock for me. When I was 13 my family and I moved to Maryland (in the DC area) which was a whole other kind of culture shock. I went to the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, for college but I moved to New York to start writing before I had a chance to finish school. As you can probably imagine, my Naija parents are THRILLED! 
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Chris Okigbo Conference
New England was alive with poetry as some literary giants came to pay tribute to one of their own. Boston played host to an International Conference on the poetry and life of Christopher Okigbo. He is widely acknowledged as an outstanding postcolonial English-language African poet and one of the major modernist writers of the twentieth century.
The conference was co-hosted by the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute at Harvard University, Boston University, University of Massachusetts and Wellesley College. The event was organized to reiterate literature as a powerful socially transformative force and highlight Okigbos’ poetry, as a mirror of his time but just as significant today. » Read more…
Alek Wek – From Sudanese Refugee to International Supermodel
The rags to riches story of the African is not a new one. People like to tell the story of a poor village African who all of a sudden has luxury and wealth in the West. It is not often that the true in between story is told. In ALEK, the supermodel takes us on her journey between her home country; a war torn Sudan and her current international supermodel global status.
Alek (the 7th of 9 children) was born into a family that was nowhere near wealthy in material things and not quite poor either. The Wek family was rich in the fact that they had a roof over their head, food on the table, and clothes on their back. These things, although basic were not available to many people. Alek’s father was an upright man who loved her mother, and worked hard to provide for his family. » Read more…
A long way gone; Memoirs of a boy soldier – Ishmael Beah
A captivating story of a young boy caught up in the Sierra Leone Civil War whose childhood suddenly changed in a dramatic and horrific manner from that of a young boy full of hopes and dreams to that of a boy soldier bred by an army of sociopathic and unruly rebel armed forces. He later finds redemtion at a rehabilitation camp funded by UNICEF and other NGOs which is where some hope of a normal life was restored until another way riddled the nation sending Ishmael Beah and his family on a flight for safety to the US where he now resides. » Read more…
Purple Hibiscus – Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie
Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie debuts with this breathtaking novel about the life of 15 year-old Kambili. Born into a family comprising of herself, her brother and their parents; a loving and devoting but uneducated mother and an educated, wealthy Catholic politician father, Kambili grew up in the confines of an upright and holy family. She was raised to be proper and speak the right English so that everyone would recognize her as intelligent. Her father was perfect in every way or so he appeared and he dared his family to portray anything short of perfection. He was politically active in the community, but at home, a complete judgmental fanatic.
Kambili and her brother imagined a life outside of the walls of their home and how much fun it would be to grow up laughing just for the fun of it, playing with the neighbors kids and doing those things that kids love to do. The imagined living in a home where both their parents could agree on something together instead of their mother agreeing to everything that was presented by their father even when she was in complete opposition. Kambili wished that her mother enjoyed her family as opposed to subjecting to it. » Read more…
HERU Speaks…
Jamati: How are you doing?
Heru: Am good, thanks.
Jamati: What is your real name and what part of Africa is your original homeland?
Heru: My real name is the name that was held by my ancestors back when we were free and ruled the world. Therefore, my real name is my indigenous African name. Heru is an ancient African/Egyptian/Kemetan name which I reclaimed for the benefit of African integrity. African people should have African names. I am yet to meet the French man or the European man named Kwame, Ife’, or Ade’ because of their love for the African culture. So at the very least, for the sake of equality, I cannot accept any name outside of my authentic African identity. » Read more…
EXILED; WITHIN THE BOWELS OF AMERICA
ABOUT THE AUTHOR – Angela M Peabody was born and raised in Monrovia, Liberia. By sixth grade, she had won her first writing award when she recited the Liberian Declaration of Independence, a 30-page document from memory in front of a large audience. This was the foundation for her successful career in broadcast journalism and becoming a major celebrity in Monrovia before becoming exiled in the United States of America. Her love for writing is unshakable as she set out to pen a novel titled Exiled. The story is based on the coup d’etat that ripped apart her beloved country, Liberia. » Read more…
African Events Calendar
Upcoming Events
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July 10, 2010
Talent-ED
USA - North East
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March 22, 2010
A “Tribute to Mama Afrika: Miriam Makeba”
USA - North East
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July 14 - 17, 2010
Africa Fashion Week New York (AFWNY) in New York
USA - North East
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March 20, 2010
FACE Africa 1st Annual Gala
USA - North East
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