The Granta Book of the African Short Story by Helon Habila

Review

A timely anthology of short stories [that] reveals the strength of contemporary African fiction. Ruth Franklin, Prospect (01/09/11)

Granta’s continuing energy and brio make it shine among publishers. Many of the writers deserve an audience beyond their national boundaries; Granta has manoeuvred itself into a unique position where it is the only publisher which not only can do this, but do it fantastically well. Helon Habila has made a good fist of an almost impossible task. The overall feel of this collection is big, brave and intricately interwoven … There is a clutch of terrific stories here for almost every kind of reader. Chris Dolan, Herald (03/09/11)

The majority of authors in the collection are lively and innovative and paint a good picture of emerging African talent … Granta’s new collection shows a generation of engaging and talented writers coming out of Africa. Habila suggests that with the spread of the internet across the continent in the past fifteen years, short fiction has found a new outlet for publication and will continue to gain exposure across the globe where previously it would never have done. Things can only get better, Habila hints, although to be honest they were pretty good to start with. Tom Little, Think Africa Press (06/09/11)

The skill and sophistication of African authors is on display throughout this rich and rewarding book.

Joan Smith, The Times (10/09/11)

Brings together some of the most exciting voices from this generation of Afropolitans. Ellah Allfrey, Daily Telegraph Review (10/09/11)

A sense of often painful transition echoes through these  snapshots; as does a defiance in the face of all that can be thrown at these modern Africans.  Siobhan Murphy, MetroBook of the Week (15/09/11)

Product Description

The Granta Book of the African Short Story introduces a group of African writers described by its editor, Helon Habila, as ‘the post-nationalist generation’. Presenting a diverse and dazzling collection from all over the continent - from Morocco to Zimbabwe, Uganda to Kenya - Habila has focused on younger, newer writers, interspersed with some of their older, more established peers, to give a fascinating picture of a new and more liberated Africa.Disdaining the narrowly nationalist and political preoccupations of previous generations, these writers are characterized by their engagement with the wider world and the opportunities offered by the internet, the end of apartheid, the end of civil wars and dictatorships, and the possibilities of free movement around the world. Many of them live outside Africa. Their work is inspired by travel and exile. They are liberated, global and expansive. As Dambudzo Marechera wrote: "If you write for a particular nation, or tribe, then f*** you." These are the stories of a new Africa, punchy, self-confident and defiant.Includes stories by: Rachida El Charni; Henrietta Rose-Innes; George Makana Clarke; Ivan Vladislavik; Mansoura Ez Eldin; Fatou Diome; Aminatta Forna; Manuel Rui; Patrice Nganang; Leila Aboulela; Zoe Wicombe; Ala Al-Aswany; Doreen Baingana; EC Osonduq

Book Description

The Granta Book of the African Short Story introduces a group of African writers described by its editor, Helon Habila, as 'the post-nationalist generation'. Presenting a diverse and dazzling collection from all over the continent - from Morocco to Zimbabwe, Uganda to Kenya - Habila has focused on younger, newer writers, contrasted with some of their older, more established peers, to give a fascinating picture of a new and more liberated Africa.
Disdaining the narrowly nationalist and political preoccupations of previous generations, these writers are characterized by their engagement with the wider world and the opportunities offered by the internet, the end of apartheid, the end of civil wars and dictatorships, and the possibilities of free movement around the world. Many of them live outside Africa. Their work is inspired by travel and exile. They are liberated, global and expansive. As Dambudzo Marechera wrote: 'If you're a writer for a specific nation or specific race, then f*** you." These are the stories of a new Africa, punchy, self-confident and defiant.
Includes stories by:
Rachida el-Charni; Henrietta Rose-Innes; George Makana Clark; Ivan Vladislavic; Mansoura Ez-Eldin; Fatou Diome; Aminatta Forna; Manuel Rui; Patrice Nganang; Leila Aboulela; Zoe Wicomb; Alaa Al Aswany; Doreen Baingana; E.C. Osondu

About the Author

Helon Habila was born in Nigeria. He has published three novels, Waiting for an Angel (2002), Measuring Time (2007) and Oil on Water (2010). Winner of the Caine Prize 2001, and the Commonwealth Writer's Prize 2003, Habila currently teaches Creative Writing at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, where he lives with his family.

Harare North by Brian Chikwava

In an astonishing, revelatory original debut, Caine Prize for African Writing winner Brian Chikwava tackles head-on the realities of life as a refugee....

When he lands in Harare North, our unnamed protagonist carries nothing but a cardboard suitcase full of memories and an email address for his childhood friend, Shingi. Finessing his way through immigration, he spends a few restless weeks as the very unwelcome guest in his cousin's home before tracking down Shingi in a squat. This shocking, powerful first novel is the story of a stranger in a strange land—one of the thousands of illegal Zimbabwean immigrants seeking a better life—with a past he is determined to hide. From the first line the language fizzes with energy, humor, and not a little menace. As he struggles to make his life in London (the "Harare North" of the title) and battles with the weight of what he has left behind in a strife-torn Zimbabwe, every expectation and preconception is turned on its head. The inhabitants of the squat function at various levels of desperation: Shingi struggles to find meaningful work and to meet the demands of his family back home; Tsitsi makes a living renting out her baby to women defrauding Social Services; Alex claims to have an important job in Croydon. Fearlessly political, laugh-out-loud funny, and with an anti-hero whose voice is impossible to forget, this novel is an arresting account of London as it is experienced by Africa's dispossessed.

The unnamed narrator of Chikwava’s alternately funny and appalling novel is an émigré who arrives in London with little more than a cardboard suitcase. He’s on the run from trouble back in his native country of Zimbabwe, where he ran into difficulties as a member of President Robert Mugabe’s Green Bombers youth militia, who meted out violent punishment to those perceived to be enemies of the state. He finds his old schoolmate Shingi living in a squalid flat in Brixton along with other hapless émigrés, including Tsitsi, who makes a living renting her baby to women out to scam social services. Worry about being taken advantage of by unscrupulous employers and of being deported by immigration services alternates with the desperation of running out of food and money. And yet, the book is often darkly comic as the narrator, employing a vivid vernacular style, struggles to parse the strange ways of Londoners. This striking debut novel offers a wholly distinctive voice and an up-close view of the plight of illegal immigrants. --Joanne Wilkinson

Review

"The darkest of comedies, fueled by an electric, wholly convincing voice."  —Observer

"An hilarious and wrenching examination of immigrant life . . . from a prodigiously talented and uncompromising writer."  —Ali Smith, author, The Accidental

"Chikwava has created an utterly compelling anti-hero . . . mesmerizing."  —Guardian

"A perfectly original and true narrative voice . . . Full of surprises, delicious little tics, and real fire-in-the-belly creativity . . . but importantly, the voice comes off as effortless, and therefore true . . . it’s a major accomplishment."  —Tod Wodicka, author, All Shall Be Well

About the Author

Brian Chikwava is among the exciting new generation of writers emerging from the African continent. His short story "Seventh Street Alchemy" was awarded the 2004 Caine Prize for African Writing.

One day I will write about this place: A Memoir by Binyavanga Wainaina

Book Description:

A groundbreaking and wide-angled memoir by the acclaimed Kenyan Caine Prize winner Binyavanga Wainaina

Binyavanga Wainaina tumbled through his middle-class Kenyan childhood out of kilter with the world around him. This world came to him as a chaos of loud and colorful sounds: the hair dryers at his mother’s beauty parlor, black mamba bicycle bells, mechanics in Nairobi, the music of Michael Jackson—all punctuated by the infectious laughter of his brother and sister, Jimmy and Ciru. He could fall in with their patterns, but it would take him a while to carve out his own.

In this vivid and compelling debut memoir, Wainaina takes us through his school days, his mother’s religious period, his failed attempt to study in South Africa as a computer programmer, a moving family reunion in Uganda, and his travels around Kenya. The landscape in front of him always claims his main attention, but he also evokes the shifting political scene that unsettles his views on family, tribe, and nationhood.

Throughout, reading is his refuge and his solace. And when, in 2002, a writing prize comes through, the door is opened for him to pursue the career that perhaps had been beckoning all along. A series of fascinating international reporting assignments follow. Finally he circles back to a Kenya in the throes of postelection violence and finds he is not the only one questioning the old certainties.

Resolutely avoiding stereotype and cliché, Wainaina paints every scene in One Day I Will Write About This Place with a highly distinctive and hugely memorable brush.

About the Author:

Binyavanga Wainaina is the founding editor of Kwani?, a leading African literary magazine based in Kenya. He won the 2002 Caine Prize for African Writing, and has written for Vanity Fair, Virginia Quarterly, Granta, and The New York Times. Wainaina directs the Chinua Achebe Center for African Writers and Artists at Bard College.

Click here to read extracts from the book.