AfriLit 2013 Celebrates the Best in African Literature

Emerging African writers read from their recent work during Afilit 2013 held at the Brooklyn Public Library’s Dweck Center on November 16, 2013 in New York City.

Selected Readings from New Work


(l to r) Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond, Nana-Ama Kyerematen, Ayesha Harruna Attah, Chinelo Okparanta & Tope Folarin
Photo by Marcia Wilson, Widevision Photography

Ayesha Harruna Attah wrote and published her first novel, Harmattan Rain, with a fellowship from Per Ankh Publishers and TrustAfrica. Harmattan Rain was shortlisted for the 2010 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, Africa Region.

Afri-DiasporaNana Ekua Brew-Hammond’s first book, Powder Necklace, is a Young Adult novel loosely inspired by her experience attending a girls’ boarding school in the Central Region of Ghana, West Africa.

Tope Folarin is the recipient of fellowships from the Institute for Policy Studies and Callaloo, and he serves on the board of the Hurston/Wright Foundation. Tope was educated at Morehouse College, and the University of Oxford, where he earned two Master’s degrees as a Rhodes Scholar. He recently won the 2013 Caine Prize for African Writing for his short story "Miracle".

Chinelo Okparanta was born in Port Harcourt, Nigeria and received her MFA from Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where she served as a Provost’s Postgraduate Visiting Writer. She has been nominated for a United States Artists Fellowship in Literature, and her collection of short stories, Happiness, Like Water (2013) was long-listed for the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award.

What is African Literature


The event was presented by Afridiaspora.com