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Culture & Society

Fareda Banda

‘I Wanted to See if I Could Pull Off Writing an Interdisciplinary Book’ Fareda Banda’s First Draft

Zimbabwean academic and author of African Migration, Human Rights and Literature, Fareda Banda, wanted her book to explore the refugee/migration issue from the perspective of one whose people were being dehumanized: ‘I was also curious about whether literature could reach places or invoke emotions such as empathy, that law and policy did not seem to be doing.’
Best of 2023: First DraftFirst DraftInterviewsOctober/November 2023Zimbabwe
Ijedike Jeboma

‘My Favourite Books Are Those That Tackle Powerful Subjects With Elegant Prose’ Ijedike Jeboma’s First Draft

Nigerian writer and author of ‘Identity Formation in Buchi Emecheta’s Kehinde’ Ijedike Jeboma, decided to read all of Emecheta’s works and noticed a shift in her 1994 novel, Kehinde: ‘Emecheta’s legacy is often discussed in terms of the womanism-feminism divide, and I thought Kehinde marked a shift in her oeuvre that I hadn’t seen much commentary about, so I wrote it myself.’
First DraftInterviewsNigeriaOctober/November 2023
Farai Mudzingwa

‘Writing a Book Is Both a Solitary and Collaborative Effort’ Farai Mudzingwa’s First Draft

Zimbabwean author, Farai Mudzingwa’s debut novel, Avenues by Train, was inspired by his interest to correct the false dichotomy between modernity and African cultural expression that exists in colonial texts: ‘I wanted to explore how cultures with disrupted spirituality and culture reconcile with modernity. There is a historical context to who we are at present as a people which is erased but necessary for our grounding today.’
August/September 2023First DraftInterviewsZimbabwe