Scan barcode
A review by ivorhartmann
African Roar: An Eclectic Anthology of African Authors by
5.0
Starting as a dream in 2007, initiated in March 2009, and now published, I am very happy to present StoryTime's first anthology, African Roar.
Official Site: African Roar
Facebook page: African Roar
African Roar features short fiction from: Ayesha Harruna Attah, Ayodele Morocco-Clarke, Beaven Tapureta, Chuma Nwokolo Jr., Christopher Mlalazi, Emmanuel Sigauke, Ivor W. Hartmann, Kola Tubosun, Masimba Musodza, Nana Awere Damoah, and Novuyo Rosa Tshuma.
(From the Forward) There is no doubt that the internet, together with digital publishing, has changed - and is still changing - the world of published literature. In the case of Africa and the African Diaspora, I certainly believe it has been for the better. Never before have so many African writers been visibly active and prolific. There is a revolution going on in the world of African literature, an African Roar that is beginning to echo around the world.
When I first started StoryTime in 2007, it was because I saw there was a need to provide an independent global online platform for new and established African writers, a platform where all fiction genres were accepted and the only requirement was a good story well told. From the very beginning I had a dream of utilising StoryTime to build up a body of work from all over Africa and the African Diaspora, from which eventually a book anthology might be drawn. At last that dream has been realised, and could not have been possible without the enthusiasm and support of all the StoryTime authors. One of the authors, Emmanuel Sigauke, offered to co-edit African Roar with me back when it was still just a dream.
African Roar is to be the first in an annual anthology series that will continue to select the very best of what has been published in the StoryTime ezine throughout the preceding year. The story selections were made through a process of a public voting by the StoryTime readers and then a final editors' selection. Each story then went through a rigorous editing process to ensure its highest potential.
What we have arrayed in this first anthology is an outstanding body of fiction from some of the finest emerging African writers today. With authors from all over Africa and in the African Diaspora, African Roar is now and promises to be a true cross-section of African literature. However, the proof is in the reading and I hope you enjoy this small banquet of African literature as much as we have in preparing it for you.
- Ivor W. Hartmann (publisher/co-editor).
I have been honoured to co-edit this rich anthology of fiction. Working with Ivor W. Hartmann, one of the most efficient editors on the African continent, was a great experience. We communicated with each other and with the writers, one email at a time, sent drafts back and forth, as each day drew us closer to the reality of the book you are holding. Reading the submissions, I was constantly reminded of the magnitude of creative talent that the writers displayed through their works. Then to think that this was just the beginning of a continent-wide initiative turned out, in my thinking, to be no small matter. The imaginations that produced this work are fertile, and if in the short time StoryTime has existed it could produce this much work and attract the number of writers displayed on its website and in this volume, I can just imagine what will have happened in two, three, or four years. This new outlet for African writers comes with the promise of providing unique fiction to the reader, unique not only because it is by African writers, but also because these are writers whose talents may not have been discovered this early. I am satisfied with the state of writing in Africa and I can confidently say that now -- this decade, this century -- is the time for the world to discover the full potential of the continent's literary might.
The stories in African Roar showcase some of the best emerging African writers on the continent and abroad. Originally published online, these stories bear testimony to the importance of the World Wide Web as a creative outlet and resource for contemporary African writers. Of great significance is the range of issues these writers portray and the wide spectrum of authors from different African countries. This is matched by the growing world demand for African writing, in part enabled by the internet as an information vehicle and a marketing tool. Ivor Hartmann has already said it, but it is worth restating here: African Roar is the first book in a series that is bound to revolutionise the African short story.
Here we have writers of great promise: Novuyo Rosa Tshuma with her 'Big Pieces, Little Pieces', where the narrator remembers the death of her mother at the hands of her abusive father and the horrors of a patriarchal world order; Kola Tubosun's fast-paced story of a man who musters the courage to face the unknown in an HIV/AIDS-testing; Masimba Musodza's 'Yesterday's Dog', which links two disturbing historical periods in Zimbabwe, a story whose rendering is as dizzying as it is engaging; Ayodele Morocco-Clarke's 'The Nestbury Tree', which shows the dangers of superstition and misdirected faith; Chris Mlalazi's 'A Cicada in the Shimmer', a story that recalls Jorge Luis Borges, with a shot of Kafka - the enchanting weaving of details infused with the blurred reality of an uneven Zimbabwe; Beaven Tapureta's 'Cost of Courage', dreamy and dazzling, presenting a narrator who guides us through the horrifying landscape of the Harare ghetto, where dreams die before they sprout; Ivor W. Hartmann's 'Lost Love', which shows us that once lost, love is hard to find, but its memories may just as well pass as a new kind of love; Chuma Nwokolo's enthralling story-telling in 'Quarterback & Co.', whose protagonist will reveal the evils of greed and corporate profiteering; Nana A. Damoah's 'Truth Floats', a portrayal of friendship, love and betrayal; and Ayesha Harruna Attah's 'Tamale Blues', a beautiful tale that will leave the reader asking for more. Like the protagonist in 'Tamale Blues', we will be left "looking at the tall, blue grass", anticipating the next roar.
- Emmanuel Sigauke (co-editor).
Official Site: African Roar
Facebook page: African Roar
African Roar features short fiction from: Ayesha Harruna Attah, Ayodele Morocco-Clarke, Beaven Tapureta, Chuma Nwokolo Jr., Christopher Mlalazi, Emmanuel Sigauke, Ivor W. Hartmann, Kola Tubosun, Masimba Musodza, Nana Awere Damoah, and Novuyo Rosa Tshuma.
(From the Forward) There is no doubt that the internet, together with digital publishing, has changed - and is still changing - the world of published literature. In the case of Africa and the African Diaspora, I certainly believe it has been for the better. Never before have so many African writers been visibly active and prolific. There is a revolution going on in the world of African literature, an African Roar that is beginning to echo around the world.
When I first started StoryTime in 2007, it was because I saw there was a need to provide an independent global online platform for new and established African writers, a platform where all fiction genres were accepted and the only requirement was a good story well told. From the very beginning I had a dream of utilising StoryTime to build up a body of work from all over Africa and the African Diaspora, from which eventually a book anthology might be drawn. At last that dream has been realised, and could not have been possible without the enthusiasm and support of all the StoryTime authors. One of the authors, Emmanuel Sigauke, offered to co-edit African Roar with me back when it was still just a dream.
African Roar is to be the first in an annual anthology series that will continue to select the very best of what has been published in the StoryTime ezine throughout the preceding year. The story selections were made through a process of a public voting by the StoryTime readers and then a final editors' selection. Each story then went through a rigorous editing process to ensure its highest potential.
What we have arrayed in this first anthology is an outstanding body of fiction from some of the finest emerging African writers today. With authors from all over Africa and in the African Diaspora, African Roar is now and promises to be a true cross-section of African literature. However, the proof is in the reading and I hope you enjoy this small banquet of African literature as much as we have in preparing it for you.
- Ivor W. Hartmann (publisher/co-editor).
I have been honoured to co-edit this rich anthology of fiction. Working with Ivor W. Hartmann, one of the most efficient editors on the African continent, was a great experience. We communicated with each other and with the writers, one email at a time, sent drafts back and forth, as each day drew us closer to the reality of the book you are holding. Reading the submissions, I was constantly reminded of the magnitude of creative talent that the writers displayed through their works. Then to think that this was just the beginning of a continent-wide initiative turned out, in my thinking, to be no small matter. The imaginations that produced this work are fertile, and if in the short time StoryTime has existed it could produce this much work and attract the number of writers displayed on its website and in this volume, I can just imagine what will have happened in two, three, or four years. This new outlet for African writers comes with the promise of providing unique fiction to the reader, unique not only because it is by African writers, but also because these are writers whose talents may not have been discovered this early. I am satisfied with the state of writing in Africa and I can confidently say that now -- this decade, this century -- is the time for the world to discover the full potential of the continent's literary might.
The stories in African Roar showcase some of the best emerging African writers on the continent and abroad. Originally published online, these stories bear testimony to the importance of the World Wide Web as a creative outlet and resource for contemporary African writers. Of great significance is the range of issues these writers portray and the wide spectrum of authors from different African countries. This is matched by the growing world demand for African writing, in part enabled by the internet as an information vehicle and a marketing tool. Ivor Hartmann has already said it, but it is worth restating here: African Roar is the first book in a series that is bound to revolutionise the African short story.
Here we have writers of great promise: Novuyo Rosa Tshuma with her 'Big Pieces, Little Pieces', where the narrator remembers the death of her mother at the hands of her abusive father and the horrors of a patriarchal world order; Kola Tubosun's fast-paced story of a man who musters the courage to face the unknown in an HIV/AIDS-testing; Masimba Musodza's 'Yesterday's Dog', which links two disturbing historical periods in Zimbabwe, a story whose rendering is as dizzying as it is engaging; Ayodele Morocco-Clarke's 'The Nestbury Tree', which shows the dangers of superstition and misdirected faith; Chris Mlalazi's 'A Cicada in the Shimmer', a story that recalls Jorge Luis Borges, with a shot of Kafka - the enchanting weaving of details infused with the blurred reality of an uneven Zimbabwe; Beaven Tapureta's 'Cost of Courage', dreamy and dazzling, presenting a narrator who guides us through the horrifying landscape of the Harare ghetto, where dreams die before they sprout; Ivor W. Hartmann's 'Lost Love', which shows us that once lost, love is hard to find, but its memories may just as well pass as a new kind of love; Chuma Nwokolo's enthralling story-telling in 'Quarterback & Co.', whose protagonist will reveal the evils of greed and corporate profiteering; Nana A. Damoah's 'Truth Floats', a portrayal of friendship, love and betrayal; and Ayesha Harruna Attah's 'Tamale Blues', a beautiful tale that will leave the reader asking for more. Like the protagonist in 'Tamale Blues', we will be left "looking at the tall, blue grass", anticipating the next roar.
- Emmanuel Sigauke (co-editor).