Words without Borders; The Home of International Literature

Words without Borders; The Home of International Literature
Check out an interview with Rwandan Writer Scholastique Mukasonga

Monday, April 22, 2019

Praise Song for the Gravediggers by Octavia McBride-Ahebee


     I am so excited about my new poetry collection, "Praise Song for the Gravediggers", which delivers a geography of women/girls whose stories, once historically silenced, rise to the top to be heard and considered. Readers meet the likes of Aminata, a Malian woman, who crossed both the Sahara Desert and the Mediterranean Sea finally landing in an urban, U.S. city where she, undocumented, braids working class African-American girls’/women’s heads using the hair Indian girls/women donated to their religious shrines to receive blessings; no money. All this feminine intersection, this cast of global females, gathering in the flesh or in hair, in unassuming salons, in the hood is magical, yet buoyed by undercurrents of structural, economic inequities. This collection brings women from all backgrounds into a fertile space where world history, economic systems and current events meet to form an oasis of human exchange and storytelling.






Available on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Praise-Song-Gravediggers-Octavia-McBride-Ahebee/dp/1792945213/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?keywords=praise+song+for+the+gravediggers&qid=1555963413&s=gateway&sr=8-1-fkmrnull

Sunday, April 14, 2019

The Burial of Kojo- A Film by Blitz Bazawule

         
Image result for the burial of kojo
                 A film by Samuel Bazawule                                                                                                                        This is an absolutely stunning film, by Ghanaian filmmaker Samuel 'Blitz' Bazawule, which is currently being shown on Netflix.  It is interesting in that my daughter and I had strongly visceral reactions to the film, but ones at the opposite ends of the emotional spectrum.   Nevertheless, we were both move by this film and its bold imagination. And, yes, the soundtrack is gorgeous.

Here are some links to reviews/interviews:



3. Ava DuVernay's ARRAY Acquires Surrel Drama 'The Burial of Kojo', Sets Netflix Premiere Date

Blitz 'The Ambassador' Bazawule: "Stories are ours to tell"