Circumspecte

Today was a blog waiting to happen. Only, it’s not going to be about the Ghanaian and African Embassies in the West as I’d intended – don’t worry, it will have its time too – but rather about contemporary books, libraries and reading in major African cities like Accra, Lusaka, Jo-burg, Lagos, Dakar. It features some   great insights from people on Facebook   and Twitter on   Africa’s reading culture   and access to contemporary books. Yesterday I participated in a very fruitful Virtual Americanah Book Club meeting with two of my friends – one in Accra, Ghana and the other in Maputo, Mozambique – and we had a swell time reflecting on Chimamanda Adichie’s latest, how it resonates with us, the different themes and so on. I posted some of my thoughts and a tweep asked where they could get the book. I have gotten this question so many times this year – especially after   my “summer reads” blog   - and so I automatically responded “Amazon” and sent a link. T...

Yesterday, the Library of Congress hosted the annual National Book Festival at the National Mall here in D.C. After finding out about it in the weekend newspaper, I knew I definitely had to be there. So even though it was pouring outside, I grabbed my trusty umbrella, plugged myself in (to my ipod lol) and trekked over to the National Mall. It was spectacular! It had been quite a while since I felt extremely giddy with excitement, and that's exactly how I felt once I stepped onto the program grounds. There were pavilions/ tents set up everywhere, with notices indicating what genre of books were housed there: Poetry and Prose, Teens & Children, History & Biography, Mystery & Thrillers etc etc. There were authors who gave speeches and had book signing periods, and even though I didn't get to see John Grisham (his talk was scheduled for 10am), I got to listen to some spectacular authors! Unfortunately (and quite mysteriously), some of the pictures and videos I took dis...