Gods and Soldiers

Description

A one-of-a-kind collection showcasing the energy of new African literature

Coming at a time when Africa and African writers are in the midst of a remarkable renaissance, Gods and Soldiers captures the vitality and urgency of African writing today. With stories from northern Arabic-speaking to southern Zulu-speaking writers, this collection conveys thirty different ways of approaching what it means to be African. Whether about life in the new urban melting pots of Cape Town and Luanda, or amid the battlefield chaos of Zimbabwe and Somalia, or set in the imaginary surreal landscapes born out of the oral storytelling tradition, these stories represent a striking cross section of extraordinary writing. Including works by J. M. Coetzee, Chimamanda Adichie, Nuruddin Farah, Binyavanga Wainaina, and Chinua Achebe, and edited by Rob Spillman of Tin House magazine, Gods and Soldiers features many pieces never before published, making it a vibrant and essential glimpse of Africa as it enters the twenty-first century.Acknowledgments
Introduction by Rob Spillman
Map of Africa

West Africa

Nonfiction

Chinua Achebe ♦ Nigeria
"The African Writer and the English Language"

Fiction

Helon Habila ♦ Nigeria
"Lomba"

Mohammed Naseehu Ali ♦ Ghana
"The Manhood Test"

Chris Abani ♦ Nigeria
from Becoming Abigail

E. C. Osondu ♦ Nigeria
"Voice of America"

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie ♦ Nigeria
from Half of a Yelllow Sun

Francophone Africa

Nonfiction

Patrice Nganang ♦ Cameroon
"The Senghor Complex"

Fiction

Alain Mabanckou ♦Republic of Congo
from Broken Glass

Fatou Diome ♦ Senegal
from The Belly of the Atlantic

Boubacar Boris Diop ♦ Senegal
from Murambi, The Book of Bones

North Africa

Nonfiction

Laila Lalami ♦ Morocco
"The Politics of Reading"

Fiction

Nawal El Saadawi ♦ Egypt
from Woman at Point Zero

Mohamed Magani ♦ Algeria
from The Butcher’s Aesthetic

Aziz Chouaki ♦ Algeria
from The Star of Algiers

Leila Aboulela ♦ Sudan
"Souvenirs"

East Africa

Nonfiction

Binyavanga Wainaina ♦ Kenya
from Discovering Home

Fiction

Ngugi wa Thiong’o ♦ Kenya
from Wizard of the Crow

Doreen Baingana ♦ Uganda
"Christianity Killed the Cat"

Nuruddin Farah ♦ Somalia
from Knots

Abdourahman A. Waberi ♦ Djibouti
from The United States of Africa

Former Portuguese Colonies

Nonfiction

Mia Couto ♦ Mozambique
"Languages We Don’t Know We Know"

Fiction

Ondjaki ♦ Angola
"Dragonfly"

Jose Eduardo Agualusa ♦ Angola
from The Book of Chameleons

Southern Africa

Nonfiction

J. M. Coetzee ♦ South Africa
"The Memoirs of Breyten Breytenbach"

Fiction

Yvonne Vera ♦ Zimbabwe
"Dead Swimmers"

Niq Mhlongo ♦ South Africa
from Dog Eat Dog

Nadine Gordimer ♦ South Africa
"A Beneficiary"

Marlene van Niekerk ♦ South Africa
from Agaat

Zakes Mda ♦ South Africa
from Ways of Dying

Ivan Vladislavic ♦ South Africa
"The WHITES ONLY Bench"

Biographical Notes

Rob Spillman is the editor of the literary magazine Tin House, and executive editor of Tin House Books. His writing has appeared in Vanity Fair, Spin, the New York Times Book Review, Bookforum, and many other publications, as well as in a literary blog for the Huffington Post. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.US

Additional information

Dimensions	0.8000 × 5.4700 × 8.3900 in
Imprint	Penguin Books
ISBN-13	09780143114734
ISBN-10	0143114735
Author	Rob Spillman
Audience	General / adult
BISAC	LIT024050, LIT004010
Subjects	book lover gifts, short story anthology, book lovers gifts, penguin classics, book lover, literary criticism, book gifts, long story short, nerd gifts, gifts for book lovers, short story collections, gifts for readers book lovers, literature book, LIT024050, short stories collections, african literature, LIT004010, african books, library, spiritual, African, Food, Africa, book lovers, short stories, black history, black history month, Literature, anthology, book club, essay, essays, gifts for readers, african american fiction, literary gifts
Format	General Trade