Thursday, 24 April 2008

The article that follows the picture

This is a very tragic story about gun violence in the UK. So many deaths that were unnecessarily. Too many young black people dying just because the gun was in the wrong hands, namely in the hands of hot-headed black youth. I strongly suggest everyone read the accompanying article.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/apr/24/ukcrime.race

ejos2.jpg (JPEG Image, 460x276 pixels)

ejos2.jpg (JPEG Image, 460x276 pixels)

Monday, 21 April 2008

Ousmane Sow Interviewed

It was really fantastic to meet and interview the famous Senegalese artist, Ousmane Sow in March 2008.
He was kind enough to meet with me and speak about his plans in Geneva and his future and past work.
For those of you who do not already know, O. Sow became a world renowned sculptor after the age of 50, which was when he began to sculpt. I have written an article about him which I hope will be published soon. Of course I will keep you all informed when it is up and available. Until then, happy reading.

Tuesday, 5 February 2008

The GWG Conference - Go Writers!!

I recently attended the Geneva Writer's Group Conference (2 - 3 February 2008) which took place at the Webster University campus in...yes, Geneva. It was a wonderful opportunity to meet fellow writers, poets and creatives.

My favourite workshop was the one taught by the very erudite Kwame Kwei-Armah, a very Afrocentric British West-Indian / Caribbean playwright whose dynamic words imparted both exhilaration and pride for craft and ability. I salute him here for encouraging and inspiring others to be the best they were created to be.

He is of course well known in Britain for more than his plays but I think it is rare to meet a writer (political or otherwise) who is committed to advancing awareness of issues pertinent to Africans of all denominations - I speak here of roots and not religions - and in bringing to our minds questions that we have perhaps trained ourselves to stop asking, either because it is inconvenient to do so or because many of us have been silenced for too long because we have been called paranoid, and have started to believe it is true.

I simply think that African writing should be more encouraged and promoted in all its forms. Go writers!!

Artistic beginnings

Dear all,

Finally, I am setting up a blog that will give you my news as well as information about many things afrocentric and related.

I will endeavour to keep you updated on news and developments in Art and Literature - from an African perspective. This is not necessarily an easy task as I have to be committed to this new task - among many others - that I am undertaking. So please bear with me if there are any stops and starts. Hopefully, we will all be cheering on the latter and not the former. So happy reading people and let me know your thoughts.