CULTURE & SOCIETY

InterKontinental, the Berlin-based literary agency and association for the promotion of African and Afro-diasporic literature, has announced the founding of its own publishing house. InterKontinental, which runs a bookshop exclusively stocked with African and Afro-diasporic literature in Berlin, has obviously responded to the difficulties of writers of African descent finding publishers for their work in Germany or German translators for …

Asamor is an incredibly versatile Cameroonian artist based in Germany. He hails from Lebialem, South West region of Cameroon. With a well-lettered background at the University of Bonn where he spent time at the department of music, he has proven his ingenuity by infusing Makossa and Bangwa rhythms to produce a unique genre and eargasmic “Abanda Kossa”. Asamor’s music career …

Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has described the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), signed between Nigeria and Germany in Abuja on Wednesday, as a major step toward the repatriation of hundreds of Benin Bronzes from Germany next year. The Minister, who spoke when he received the German government delegation that came to Nigeria for the signing of …

300,000 young Nigerians are to be trained in Film, Television and Motion Production courtesy of a partnership between KAP Academy and MasterCard Foundation —- In a landmark partnership announced on Monday (11 October 2021), 300,000 young Nigerians will be trained in film, television, and motion picture production over the next three years. The scheme will be implemented by Lagos-based KAP …

Netflix and UNESCO have partnered to launch an innovative short film competition on ‘African Folktales, Reimagined’ across sub-Saharan Africa. Winners of the competition will be trained and mentored by industry professionals and provided with a $75,000 production budget to create short films that will premiere on Netflix in 2022 as an “Anthology of African folktales”. One key aim of this …

The city of Bad Dürkheim, the heartland of the wine-producing region of southwest Germany, and its Carnival Society “Derkemer Grawler” have named Togbe Céphas Bansah as the Golden Winemaker 2022. The Ghanaian traditional ruler is being honoured for “realising many aid projects and thus in fact improving the living conditions of his people”, the Carnival Society said in a press …

The 2021 Nobel prize for literature has been awarded to the Tanzanian-born novelist Abdulrazak Gurnah. The Swedish Academy, which awards the prize, announced the winner on Thursday, praising Gurnah for his “uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism and the fate of the refugee in the gulf between cultures and continents”. The prize is worth 10 million Swedish …

A Nigerian, who has been living in Germany for more than four decades, has been awarded the country’s national honour, Bundesverdienstkreuz. Akinbode Akinbiyi, a Berlin-based photographer, author and curator, was one of the 14 citizens conferred with the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland) by President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on 1 October to mark …

NEW YORK, United States, October 4, 2021 -/African Media Agency(AMA)/- Do you have a favorite religious site? Do you often visit sacred sites? The United Nations wants to hear from you The United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC), the leading UN entity on dialogue between cultures and religions, is launching a global call to action to inspire people around the …

Dr Vivian Chioma Timothy, a Germany-based Nigerian artist, will speak at the 2021 World Summit on Women and Girls. The event, which commemorates the United Nations International Day of the Girl, takes place on Thursday 28 October 2021. The self-taught, multiple award-winning artist will join global leaders such as Ms Coleiro Preca, former President of Malta; Hajia Fatoumata Jallow Tambajang, …

The 21st international literature festival berlin [ilb] holds on 8-18 September 2021, drawing participants from across the globe. During the 11-day event writers from all over the world gather in Berlin to present their work to lovers of literature. On 8 September, French-Moroccan author Leïla Slimani will give the opening speech entitled “Call for Crime” at the festival. She will …

The African Union Commission and The International Committee of All Africa Music Awards, (Afrima), have received a staggering number of 8,880 entries for the Afrima 2021 Awards. Now in its eighth year, Afrima, the ultimate recognition of African music globally honours African artists, music producers, songwriters, video directors, DJs, choreographers/dancers, and movie/film producers living on the continent or in diaspora …

The international literature festival berlin [ilb] calls on individuals, schools, universities, cultural institutions and media to participate in a Worldwide Reading for the Dead of the Corona Pandemic on September 5, 2021. The reading is intended to commemorate those who died in the pandemic. For more than a year, the world has been in the grip of the pandemic. Nearly …

Ethiopian-American writer Meron Hadero has been awarded the 2021 AKO Caine Prize for African Writing for her short story ‘The Street Sweep’, published in ZYZZYVA (2018). This is the first time an Ethiopian writer has won the Prize since its inception in 2000. The Chair of the AKO Caine Prize Judging Panel, Goretti Kyomuhendo, Founder and Director of the African …

Spurred by the obvious lack of quality children’s books for kids of African descent growing up in the diapora, authors have been striving for several years to fill the yawning gap. Berlin-based Nigerian journalist and writer Lolade Adewuyi has now made a very rich addition to the growing library for African children. His The Lost Little Masquerade is a story …

Lovers of African literature congregated in Berlin for the African Book Festival Berlin on 16 – 17 July 2021 to celebrate writing from the Continent and its Diaspora. The festival, first held in 2017, continues to go from strength to strength. Although this year’s event had a Lusophonic slant to it, celebrating, in the main, Literature and Music from Portugal, …

Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, on Saturday said the Federal Government will be responsible for taking possession of the 1,130 Benin bronzes to be returned by Germany. “The Federal Government is aware of the widely reported controversy on who will take possession of the Benin bronzes when they are returned from Germany,” Mr Mohammed said on Saturday …

The 18th Africa Film Festival Cologne holds from 16 – 26 September 2021. A main focus of the biannual festival is the effects of digitalisation on everyday life, social interaction, economy, ecology and politics in African countries. —– The effects of digitalisation on everyday life, social interaction, economy, ecology and politics are now central themes in films from African countries. …

Nigerian singing legend Olanrewaju Abdul-Ganiu Fasasi, more famously known as Sound Sultan, has died. The rapper, singer, songwriter, actor, comedian and recording artist, who is regarded as one of the pacesetters of modern hip hop music in Nigeria, died on Sunday, 11 July in the US of throat cancer. He was 44. Tributes continue to be paid to the artist. …

A powerful Nigerian delegation visited Berlin on Wednesday, 7 July 2021, to pursue the return of the famous Benin bronze heads and other cultural artefacts that were pillaged from that country in the 19th Century during a punitive expedition of the British Army. Led by Information and Culture Minister, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the delegation included Mr Godwin Obaseki, the Governor …