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scholar of literary & cultural studies, editor of poco.lit.
The story begins with the return of one half of a pair of twins to her small hometown in Louisiana. The Vignes girls, as identical in appearance as they are opposite in character, begin inseparable and end worlds apart. Brit Bennett’s The Vanishing Half tells the strange story of their lives, and those of their daughters.
more...The novella treads a complex and delicate line in its negotiation of personal wrongs and structural injustices as they collide and intersect.
more...Ali’s writing is characterised by a felicitous turn of phrase. She has a way of buckling two or three words together in surprising but evocative ways, and a capacity for refreshing metaphor.
more...The exhibition ZurückGESCHAUT at the Treptow Museum in Berlin distinguishes itself, to my mind, not so much for what it presents as for how it does this. It opened in October 2017 and was the first permanent exhibition to confront Germany’s histories of colonialism, racism and resistance.
more...On the 8th of July 2020, Jennifer Neal joined us on zoom and gave us some insights into her work. She is an Australian-American writer, artist and occasional stand-up comedian who currently lives in Berlin. She has published short stories and a wide array of journalistic articles and essays, and has recently finished a novel. Jennifer talked to us about writing nature and environment, and shared some thoughts on speculative fiction.
more...What makes Freshwater exceptional and so valuable as a literary intervention is the way it turns Western epistemologies of mental health on their head.
more...In March 2019, I visited the ‘Africa Museum’ at Tervuren just outside of Brussels. It was a deeply strange experience.
more...Jennifer Neal’s short story, “In Search of Better Skies”, was published in The Willowherb Review in 2019 and nominated for the Pushcart Prize. In it, Neal’s narrator describes the major movements of her grandfather’s life.
more...When I started reading Bruce Pascoe’s account of “Aboriginal Australia and the birth of agriculture”, as Dark Emu is billed on the cover, I must confess I didn’t expect it to be page-turner. But it is.
more...The AKO Caine Prize for African Writing’s shortlist for 2020 is out. The selection includes five short stories, all freely available via their website. It’s definitely worth checking them out. Here’s a short review of each to whet your appetite.
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