New special section of English Studies in Africa

Nicklas Hållén (Karlstad University, Sweden) and Charles Kebaya (Machakos Univeristy, Kenya) have co-edited a section of the next issue of English Studies in Africa. The section is about "the street as archive" in contemporary popular culture and literature from Nairobi. It consists of the following articles: The Boda Boda (R)age: Economies of Affection in the Motorbike Taxis...

Sound Pressure Levels

Sound of Nairobi write that: We want to tell you about our new project Sound Pressure Levels.It is a field recording project documenting the current political atmosphere in Kenya.The coming presidential elections in August 2022 in Kenya are already raising political and social temperatures. In Kenya‘s political past, ethnicity has been narrated by mainstream national and international...

Comics from the Lockdown is out!

Our collection Comics from the Lockdown is finally out. This collection was made possible by our collaboration with Comic Republic and was put together by Mike Frangos, Nicklas Hållén and Jasmine Mattey. You can read/download the collection below. comics-from-the-lockdown-25-compDownload

Jasmine Mattey in conversation with Mike Maphoto, author of Diary of a Zulu Girl.

Can you please share a little bit about your background as a writer? Writing has always been a passion of mine. I was first influenced by the Harry Potter series as I was a fan of fantasy fiction. The first books I ever wrote were part of a three-book series of  fantasy fiction titled Lucinda...

Interview with comic book artist Bill Masuku, by Jasmine Mattey.

Can you tell us a little bit about your background as an artist and writer for readers who haven't yet read your work?    Sure! I am not formally or traditionally trained in any art form or even writing for that matter. I’m a self-taught artist, which means that a majority of my learning comes from a combination of trial and...

Interview with Sophia from Sound of Nairobi.

Sound of Nairobi is an open-access archive containing recordings from around Nairobi. By clicking different points on an interactive map, you can listen to the sonic environment in different neighbourhoods in the city. I talked to Sophia, who is one of the people behind the project. Can you tell us a little bit about how...

Comics from the lockdown

Check this out! My friend Mike Classon Frangos and I have launched a comics contest in collaboration with Comics Republic in Lagos.

Notes from the Lockdown has been printed in Nairobi

I just got news from my friend Ray Mwihaki that she has finished printing and putting together 300 paper copies of Notes from the Lockdown. They will be available from some street book vendors in the Nairobi CBD, bookshops and other stores around Umoja and from the World's Loudest Library at the Souk, Karen, shortly....

Download “Notes from the Lockdown”

Here is an e-version of Notes from the Lockdown a collection of text written about and/or during the lockdown in countries like South Sudan, Ethiopia-Oromia, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, South Africa, Namibia, Sierra Leone, Ghana and Nigeria. Please share it with your friends. Notes from the LockdownDownload

Notes from the lockdown

Writers in Africa, sikiliza tafadhali. Boredom is the mother of invention. I hear from people that they suffer from writer's block at the moment, as people are stuck at home or upcountry, as the Kenyans say, so I thought I would ask around if people have anything they'd written in quarantine that I could publish...