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In Only Big Bum Bum Matters Tomorrow, Damilare Kuku introduces a protagonist, Témì with big plans for a drastic change to her appearance in the form of a BBL.
In her debut novel, Damilare examines familial relationships, beauty standards and the quest for desirability in modern day Nigeria.
Témì is a young university student, grappling with her body image all while navigating loss and complex family dynamics including her older sister’s sudden disappearance prior.
Her journey towards the BBL unravels a slew of other issues including the weight of physical beauty, the desire to be attractive and what it means to reach for unattainable beauty standards.
The women in this book are deeply flawed but incredibly relatable, a testament to the authors skill. They live full and interesting lives while making challenging decisions in a life full of difficulties.
Once again, Damilare disarms the reading by infusing humour in writing these challenging themes.
Deeply observant and thought-provoking, Damilare scratches beyond the surface of what it means to be a woman striving for beauty and by extension a sense of self, in contemporary Nigeria.
We sat down with Damilare Kuku to discuss self identification, beauty standards and the quest for beauty while navigating familial relationshipsSupport the show
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In a collection of 12 short stories, Damilare Kuku demonstrates the almost Sisyphean task that is navigating love, relationships and life in Lagos.
Damilare deftly uses humour and wit to explore the difficult themes of love, loss, friendship and romance, often catching the reader unaware.
As a testament to the universality of these stories, as reader you or someone you know may have encountered one of the mad men Damilare has written about.
Of course the women are not exempt from the afflictions of humanity, many of them being difficult and somewhat exhausting in a node to the realities of the women we do know in our daily life.
Most striking is the depiction of sex and agency displayed by these women particularly in the face of misogyny and patriarchy.
Damilare draws the reader in, using both humour and sensitivity as she explores what it means to live and love in a place like Lagos.
We sat down with Damilare to discuss her break out collection.Support the show
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Coloured as an ethnicity and racial demographic is intertwined with the creation of today’s South Africa. Yet often coloured communities are disdained as people with no clear heritage or culture – as not "black enough" or "white enough".
Coloured by Tessa Dooms and Lynsey Ebony Chutel, challenges this notion and presents a different angle to that narrative. It delves into the history of coloured people as descendants of indigenous Africans and a people whose identity was shaped by colonisation, slavery and apartheid.
Coloured as an ethnicity was again in the spotlight following Tyla’s brilliant rise to fame on both side of the Atlantic this year. In South Africa, there has been a problematic discourse that disparages the Coloured identity as inherently lacking, in culture, heritage and ultimately place in our democracy.
Tessa Dooms and Lynsey Ebony Chutel, challenge this prevailing idea and bring forth a different way to view this incredibly varied and rich community. In a powerful exposition, Tessa and Lynsey delve into the history of people shaped by colonisation, slavery and apartheid.
Spurred by the death of Nathaniel Julies, a young Coloured boy following a shooting by the police. #ColouredLivesMatter began to circulate on social media in response to this violence.
Tessa and Lynsey sought to address the cultural alienation that young Coloured people continue to experience in South Africa by looking deeply into the history of Coloured history, ancestry and political placement in South Africa. In working through the conundrum of Coloured identity, it becomes clear that it cannot be distilled in racial classification.
We sat down with Tessa and Lynsey to discuss the complexities of Coloured identity beyond the tropes and stereotypes. We spoke about the work of understanding the realities of Coloured identities, experiences and setting.
Written as a mirror to both reader and subject matter, this book is a love letter to Coloured people.Support the show
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In a once majestic but now decaying mansion, itself a potent metaphor for the current state of Durban where it’s set, we meet the characters of Shubnum Khan’s latest novel.
Originally developed as an ode to beauty, culture and heritage by its owner Akbar Ali Khan, who came to make his fortune in South Africa.
In its current incarnation, the mansion has been converted to weary looking apartments with an assortment of residents each haunted by their own tragedies and pasts.
With the latest edition being Bilal and his teenage daughter, Sana.
In a mix of teenage angst and curiosity, Sana stumbles upon some of the houses supernatural inhabitants. In a novel that confronts the ghosts of the past and present, Shubnum weaves a magical tale of loss and becoming.
We sat down with her to discuss the magic of things lost and forgotten, the gift of memory and archiving and what it means to make amends.Support the show
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In this novel, Busisekile asks what it means to be a young woman asked to make difficult decisions in impossible situations.
Centred around Vimbai, a young Zimbabwean woman navigating young adulthood amid an economic crisis. She faces significant childhood trauma and we see its subsequent manifestation in her overachievement, detachment and other relational issues. These issues are compounded by the complexity of dating and navigating those additional layers. Both of her love interests are deeply problematic, flawed and unlikeable in varying degrees.
We are captivated by these love stories.
Navigating adulthood is impossible without community and Vimbai is no exception. There is an exploration of imperfect women still holding each other with grace as friends.
Busisekile also explores the complexities of queer lived experiences in queerphobic spaces.
Romance, parental failings, economic challenges – these are some of the themes Busisekile deftly explores.
We sat with her to discuss the complexities of love, choice and growing up.Support the show
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Honey& Spice is a sweet, evocative and humorous coming of age debut novel from Bolu Babalola. We first encountered Bolu in the short story collection “Love in Colour.”
In her debut novel set in a PWI in the UK, we are introduced to a cast of characters so relatable that you will find yourself or your friends in at least one of these individuals.
The protagonist, Kiki is a seemingly self-controlled and focused young woman who is adept at playing the romance long game and seems to be content with the fleeting nature of these modern day dating interactions. This continues until the introduction of a new student, Malakai who is incredibly good-looking, intelligent and lovely. On paper, this combination is perfect, however the reality of life dictates that the seas of love are not smooth sailing at all.
There a series of events where we witness Kiki and Malakai fake date and pass through the enemies to lover pipeline with a few complications in between.
As the book unfolds, the themes of friendship, kinship and family come to the fore. We watch the characters navigate the realities of past romantic traumas, the veneer of unavailability and parental disappointments as best as they are equipped to.
Bolu’s characters ask us to think widely of love and friendship in the contexts of youth and self -discovery; what does it mean to find love in broken places and people. On first look, this is a fun, coming of age story set in a British university but a deeper inspection reveals a contemplation on trauma, familial influence and chosen family.
We sat with Bolu Babalola to discuss these themes and ideas in this engaging conversationSupport the show
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In this immaculate study of father-son relationships and the black masculinity, Okechukwu introduces to two Black, gay British-Nigerian men. Achike and Ekene find themselves wading through the existential phenomena of being alive, Black and gay while navigating life, ambitions and family.
The story begins with these two but then traces back to the fathers of these men, and their forefathers, in doing so examines a lineage of brokenness, unavailability and abuse.
Who is man and how much of what he is, is a result of what has become and was undone before him?
Okechukwu uses recurrence to emphasise the cyclical nature of life in this novel while exploring Igbo mythology and concepts of life, death and rebirth.
The characters are struck by a tragedy almost a halfway into the book which forces the reader and the characters to participate in the exposition of love and life lost and intimacy unfulfilled. These complexities are compounded by grief and the cruelty of loss as we watch these characters attempt to make sense of iniquity of tragedy.
We sat with Okechukwu to discuss his hauntingly beautiful trans-generational novel on fathers, sons, love and grief.Support the show
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In this enthralling debut collection of short stories by Arinze Ifeakandu God’s Children Are Little Broken Things is a collection of 9 short stories set in Nigeria that examine queer identity, relationships, family and societal isolation.
Arinze writes stories with characters whose lives are layered, complicated by youth, love and grief. He asks of them and by extension, the reader; difficult questions around the relationship between truth and honesty, disappointment and resilience.
Many of these stories could be individual novels and that in itself is a testament to Arinze’s skill in one of the most challenging literary genres.
We sat down with Arinze Ifeakandu to discuss his Dylan Thomas prize winning debut
God’s Children Are Little Broken Things. It also won the inaugural Republic of Consciousness Prize. It has also been shortlisted for other literary awards.
In this powerful conversation we explored love lost and found, queer belonging and displacement, the onsweship of grief , and what it means to love a place that may not love you back.Support the show
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In this intriguing debut by Chịkọdịlị Emelụmadụ, we are introduced to two young girls Ozoemena and Treasure, whose coming of age takes place in a boarding school in Nigeria. Their meeting is set against the backdrop of familial loss and tragedy.
We watch them try to navigate the realities of coming of age and into themselves in a society that doesn’t always give them space to do that.
Treasure has experienced the violence of patriarchy and the institutions which support it and has to make difficult decisions when approached by a dark spirit.
Ozoemena has to contend with a different spiritual identity when her uncle dies.
In this novel, filled with Igbo mythology and fascinating metaphysical occurrences, African oral histories are brought to the forefront.
We sat with Chịkọdịlị Emelụmadụ as we explored what it means to write a genre bending coming of age novel as a debut.Support the show
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This book begins with a curse put on the house of Zulu and her family, the Mhlongos, by Nandi Mhlongo, mother of Shaka ka Senzangakhona for the disrespect she endured from them.Weaving through the lives of three women living in different historical ages who in their own ways attempt to get restitution for Nandi.
Through the eyes of three female protagonists, each who experiences a different loss and heartbreak, Dr Mazibuko-Msimang explores African spirituality, disappointment and familial relationships.
This novel is an ode to the power of historical fiction, well-researched with a focus on some of the most important historical periods in South Africa. From the Frontier wars, Apartheid and Fees Must Fall, each of the protagonists reveal a powerful, feminist centred gaze.
Dr Mazibuko-Msimang sat down with us to discuss her debut novel. In this eye opening conversation, we discussed the themes of generational trauma, cellular memory, restorative justice and how those with no institutional power get justice.Support the show
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In this beautiful memoir, Safiya Sinclair writes about her childhood and adolescence in Jamaica with parents in the Rastafari faith. In an act of personal excavation, she brings forth the hidden histories of a people pushed to the margins by colonisation, oppression, and religious intolerance, all exacerbated by patriarchy.Raised in difficult socio-economic conditions by a father who increasingly becomes more militant in his practice of Rastafari, Safiya and her siblings find refuge in her mother’s creativity and love for literature.
We are drawn to the discovery of Safiya as a scholar and poet while navigating her intimate relationship with her family, the first site of turmoil and conflict between the author and the people she loves. Truthful but graceful, we embark on the journey to humanise her parents in the face of the difficult upbringing that she has.
The beauty of Safiya’s writing is the tenderness with which she handles the contradictions of an upbringing that cuts its children’s joys and ambitions small but also finds love and joy in many of these moments.
All of this take place with the ever foreboding threat of Babylon, encroaching in their personal lives and their relationship with the outside world. We are struck by the ways in which even the most vehement opposers of Babylon, accede to its rules in the world of work and life – a metaphor for the ways in which people survive.
National Book Critics Circle Award Winner
A New York Times Notable Book
A Read with Jenna Today Show Book Club Pick!
A Best Book of 2023 by the New York Times, Time, The Washington Post, Vulture, Shelf Awareness, Goodreads, Esquire, The Atlantic, NPR, and Barack Obama
The 2024 OCM BOCAS PRIZE non-fiction winner
Shortlisted for the non-fiction prize for the women's prize.Support the show
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In My Life as a Chameleon, Diana Anyakwo explores the themes of identity, family and memory with a tender hand. Centred around the experiences of Lily, a teenager of mixed race background growing up in Nigeria and England.
Lily’s experience is further complicated by her birth order as the youngest of four children with a significant age difference between her and the others. Interestingly, the novel is written in a diary like format flitting between different time periods with no strict adherence to chronology.
We watch Lily experience bereavement and the subsequent pain of grief as young child whose experience is often dismissed. Prior to this loss, Lily experiences the confusion of a loved one’s mental illness and her family’s inability to confront or adequately acknowledge the fissures and chasms that this causes.
We sat down in this delightful conversation with Diana to discuss what it means to write characters who navigate complex social contexts and identities while grieving a past unknown and an uncertain future.
My Life as a Chameleon has been longlisted for the Jhalak Children's and Young Adult Prize 2024 and shortlisted for the KMPG Ireland Children's Books Ireland AwardsSupport the show
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"1. Unwelcome Reunion Unwelcome Reunion
When I was twenty-eight, my stepmother Anabel came to New York on vacation. She was living, at the time, in Pakistan, where she worked for a UN agency. At a restaurant a few blocks from my Chinatown apartment, we ate noodle soup and drank red wine. That night, Anabel told me my father did not die of cancer as I believed. He died, she claimed, of AIDS."
Aftershocks are smaller earthquakes that occur in the same general area during the days to years following a larger event or "mainshock."
In her memoir of the same title, Nadia Ouwusu explores what it means to be a nomad, a childhood characterised by loss and distance. We travel with Nadia in a life characterised by contrasts, having no mother and two mothers, having strong roots and none at the same time.
Thematically inspired by the activity an earthquake, Owusu weaves between different chronological events culminating in a week long reckoning with self and history at age 28.
In a powerfully tender conversation, Owusu sat with us to discuss her memoir. A reflection on belonging, grief and reckoning.
Filled with honesty, grace and the joy of recollection, this was one of our favourite conversations this year.Support the show
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"And in breaking news, convicted serial killer and rapist, Napoleon Dingiswayo, escaped from Pretoria’s C-Max Prison at twelve-fifteen this afternoon, along with serial rapist and armed robber Andries Mathe, and heist kingpin Sifiso Khumalo.’ The voice of the newsreader rings crisp and cool while announcing the earth-shattering news."Angela Makholwa is one of South Africa’s more eminent crime writers. In Red Ink, we were introduced to the characters of Lucy Khambule and Napoleon Dingiswayo and left on the edge as we wondered what happened next. In her latest novel, Makholwa revisits the chapters we thought were long closed. The book opens with Napoleon’s escape from prison and Lucy’s subsequent terror begins. We sat down with Makholwa to discuss what it means to write crime fiction in South Africa, Lucy Khambule and how our preoccupations drive us towards the truth. We laughed, we introspected and walked away with a newfound appreciation for the art of crime fiction writing.Support the show
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In this refreshing tale about Black love and the self-discovery, we are introduced to Zola, a young woman in her 20’s thrashing out what it means to reckon with disappointment. We meet her as a new arrival in South Africa, following an extended stint in Germany which ultimately falls apart. In the face of the disappointment of a dream shattered, she also has to navigate family politics and a complicated love life.This is when Mbali enters the story, a gorgeous man from the right side of town who is irresistible on paper but is deeply flawed and complex as most people are. The ensuing chaos between these two with a third unlikely character as Okuhle, who is her boss.The Cheeky Natives sat down with Zibu to discuss the nuanced nature of Black lives, the disappointments of dreams deferred and the search for one’s self in the face of complicated romantic and familial relationships.Zibu who is is no stranger to writing romance offered us the unique perspective of writing on Black love, life on the periphery and the navigations of class and education, especially between the haves and the have nots. More importantly, she asks important questions around the act of choosing yourself and your dreams even at great cost.Support the show
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“In Violet’s bedroom, most of the furniture had been moved, except for the bed whose mattress lay on the floor and carried the weight of an unconscious Violet. The wardrobe had been moved to the corner of the room and the table that had been near the window moved to the sitting room. There was a small mound where the table had occupied space, a small grave where Violet’s baby would be laid to rest. Uncle Sontaga had dug the grave with the help of Andzani and Neo. He had used his leg to determine its depth, and when it got to his knee, he’d resolved it was deep enough.” A Soft Landing is a novel that explores the implications of a past not decisively dealt with. Wisani’s characters live lives that are mired in the questions and complexities that characterise Black life. A Soft Landing is more than a coming-of-age tale; it is a poignant study of grief in its myriad of guises. Every one of the central characters in this novel has a precarious relationship to loss. This is an examination on the weight of grief, past and present in all its manifestations. In this episode, we chat to Wisani Mushwana about his debut. We traverse topics such as homosexuality being unAfrican, weaponising shame, the cost of a human life, mental health, the implications of not dealing with trauma. We also delve into tender moments in the book, which include love, healing and hope.
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“He stared back at her, unconcerned. She had always marvelled at his calm assurance that everything good in his life would either remain the same or get better. He took good fortune for granted. As though it were impossible that it would abide only for a spell. She had never been able to shake the sense that life was war, a series of battles with the occasional spell of good things.” - Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀A dazzling story of modern Nigeria and two families caught in the riptides of wealth, power, romantic obsession and political corruption.We sat down with Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀ discuss her latest book A Spell of Good Things, which has been longlisted for the 2023 Booker Prize.Support the show
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Set over the course of one weekend, Christopher introduces us to Vuyo, one of a long lineage of headstrong January women. Vuyo, pregnant with twins is mourning the death of her Scottish-born husband and has come home to her family home in the rural Eastern Cape.Paying homage to matrilineal lineage, the January women take centre stage in this book. Written from each of their perspectives, Christopher offers a look at the interior lives of these Black women, their tragedies, relationships, and histories. Tenderly and with a clarity that can only be described as masterful, Siyotula explores what it means to be each of these women.Healing and reconciliation, and the transformative power of nature are explored in this novel. Aided by the vivid, visual representations of the lush Eastern Cape, water is central theme in this book. The power of water and by extension, nature is a prominent feature of Siyotula’s writing.Interestingly, Siyotula’s characters are complex and deeply layered. Representative of the deeply labyrinthine nature of family, each of these characters are a reminder that home is indeed the first site of the political.With unconventional male characters, Siyotula reimagines what equality in relationships may look like, particularly for women whose lives and experiences have always been devalued.The Cheeky Natives sat down with Nozuku Siyotula to discuss this beautiful novel.Support the show
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"With her first full-length poetry collection, Warsan Shire introduces us to a young girl, who, in the absence of a nurturing guide, makes her own way toward womanhood. Drawing from her own life, as well as pop culture and news headlines, Shire finds vivid, unique details in the experiences of refugees and immigrants, mothers and daughters, Black women and teenage girls. In Shire’s hands, lives spring into fullness." The Cheeky Natives sat down with Warsan Shire following the release of her much anticipated poetry collection.In a far ranging conversation spanning the both themes of the book and the context in which they exist, this complex and layered life was laid out. These poems are a record of black womanhood, a journey often characterised by a prevailing state of precarity and difficulty.Despite this, Warsan also captures the joy and magic in the essence of our journey into becoming. Warsan’s writing is masterful, each poem so vividly and tenderly written that it unfurls as you read it. For fans of Warsan, (s/o to Tumblr), this collections feels like a meeting of old friends, an encounter where one sees just how much they have changed and grown. In many ways, this book is effulgent. A writing against the abyss of trauma, harm and erasure.Support the show
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According to the NYT, The Prophets’ is an exploration of Black Love and Memory in a Time of Trauma. What an apt description of this powerful debut by Robert Jones Jr. In a novel moving across time and space, we are introduced to Samuel and Isaiah, who are two enslaved young men on a plantation named Empty. Despite a betrayal by another one of the enslaved men, their love burns brightly. Moving back in time, we are introduced to the Kosongo people and meet Kosii and Elewa who are spiritual predecessors to Samuel and Isaiah. There are a multitude of other characters who we meet in this traversing of time and place, Amos, Ruth, Paul and Tim. The Cheeky Natives sat down with Robert Jones Jr to discuss this radical book of queer love that moves in courage and history.Support the show
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