“Afrika’yı göz ardı etmek kolay. Afrika’ya büyüklük taslamak kolay. Afrika’yı sevdiğini iddia etmek kolay. Afrika’yı sömürmek kolay. Afrika’yı hor görmek de kolay. Afrika’yı gerçekten görmekse zor. Çeşitliliğini, karmaşıklığını, yalınlığını, bireylerini görmek zor. Fikirlerini, katkılarını, edebiyatını görmek zor. Kahkahasını duymak, zulmünü anlamak, maneviyatına tanıklık etmek, ızdırabına katlanmak, kadim felsefesini kavramak zor. Afrika’yı görmek zor, çünkü onu görmek yürek istiyor. Onu yanılmadan görmek yalın bir ruh istiyor. Onu önyargısız görmek gelişmiş bir insan istiyor… Afrika’yı görmenin zor olmasının bir nedeni daha var. Afrika’yı görebilmek için kişinin kendini görebilmesi gerekiyor.” Kıtanın en iyilerine verilen Caine Ödüllü kısa hikâyelerden oluşan bu antoloji, modern Afrika kurmacasının canlı, rahatsız edici, kaotik örneklerini sunuyor. Sudan’dan Nijerya’ya, Kenya’dan Zimbabve ve Güney Afrika’ya uzanan geniş coğrafyada Afrika ormanlarını, köylerini, mülteci kamplarını, hapishanelerini, sokak ve şehirlerini keşfetmeye hazır olun. Emin olun ki bu kitapta yankısını duyduğumuz Afrika edebiyatının sesi, “zamanı gelince dünyaya birçok beklenmedik ve harika sürprizler sunacak.”
Authors
Poet and novelist Ben Okri was born in 1959 in Minna, northern Nigeria, to an Igbo mother and Urhobo father. He grew up in London before returning to Nigeria with his family in 1968. Much of his early fiction explores the political violence that he witnessed at first hand during the civil war in Nigeria. He left the country when a grant from the Nigerian government enabled him to read Comparative Literature at Essex University in England. He was poetry editor for West Africa magazine between 1983 and 1986 and broadcast regularly for the BBC World Service between 1983 and 1985. He was appointed Fellow Commoner in Creative Arts at Trinity College Cambridge in 1991, a post he held until 1993. He became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1987, and was awarded honorary doctorates from the universities of Westminster (1997) and Essex (2002). His first two novels, Flowers and Shadows (1980) and The Landscapes Within (1981), are both set in Nigeria and feature as central characters two young men struggling to make sense of the disintegration and chaos happening in both their family and country. The two collections of stories that followed, Incidents at the Shrine (1986) and Stars of the New Curfew (1988), are set in Lagos and London. In 1991 Okri was awarded the Booker Prize for Fiction for his novel The Famished Road (1991). Set in a Nigerian village, this is the first in a trilogy of novels which tell the story of Azaro, a spirit child. Azaro's narrative is continued in Songs of Enchantment (1993) and Infinite Riches (1998). Other recent fiction includes Astonishing the Gods (1995) and Dangerous Love (1996), which was awarded the Premio Palmi (Italy) in 2000. His latest novels are In Arcadia (2002) and Starbook (2007). A collection of poems, An African Elegy, was published in 1992, and an epic poem, Mental Flight, in 1999. A collection of essays, A Way of Being Free, was published in 1997. Ben Okri is also the author of a play, In Exilus. In his latest book, Tales of Freedom (2009), Okri brings together poetry and story. Ben Okri is a Vice-President of the English Centre of International PEN, a member of the board of the Royal National Theatre, and was awarded an OBE in 2001. He lives in London.
Nadine Gordimer was a South African writer, political activist, and recipient of the 1991 Nobel Prize in Literature. She was recognized as a woman "who through her magnificent epic writing has – in the words of Alfred Nobel – been of very great benefit to humanity". Gordimer's writing dealt with moral and racial issues, particularly apartheid in South Africa. Under that regime, works such as Burger's Daughter and July's People were banned. She was active in the anti-apartheid movement, joining the African National Congress during the days when the organization was banned. She was also active in HIV/AIDS causes.
