Today in #TheLagosReview

Afrikaans Writer, Elsa Joubert, 97, DiesmExplored Black Reality.

Her novel “The Long Journey of Poppie Nongena” was compared to Alan Paton’s “Cry, the Beloved Country” in arousing white opinion against apartheid. She had Covid-19.

Elsa Joubert belonged to a group of dissident writers in Afrikaans who called themselves “Die Sestigers” (the Sixtyers, or writers of the 1960s).

Elsa Joubert, one of South Africa’s best-known writers in the Afrikaans language, whose apartheid-era novel “The Long Journey of Poppie Nongena” opened the eyes of many white South Africans to the harsh treatment that the black majority had been enduring largely out of their sight, died on June 14 in Cape Town. She was 97.

She had received a diagnosis of Covid-19, her son, Nico Steytler, told South African news media.

Ms. Joubert belonged to a group of dissident writers in Afrikaans — a language derived from the 17th-century Dutch spoken by South Arica’s first white settlers — who called themselves “Die Sestigers” (the Sixtyers, or writers of the 1960s).

Source: nytimes.com

Legendary African band Orchestra Baobab celebrate 50th anniversary.

THIS YEAR marks the 50th anniversary of one of Africa’s greatest bands, Senegal’s Orchestra Baobab.

Adored both at home in Senegal and across the world, Baobab occupy a special place in the history of African music.

Their epic story begins in the heart of Dakar’s Medina in the 1960s and extends across the world and into the 21st century, featuring a brilliant assembly of diverse musical personalities and encompassing a unique blend of Afro-Latin styles, international pop, West African griot music, and an after-dark West African nightclub ambience of lilting, mellifluous rhythms.

To celebrate this remarkable milestone, the band has announced the issue of their landmark 2002 reunion album ‘Specialist In All Styles’ for the first time ever on vinyl, on September 25.

Alongside this comes a previously unseen video from the archive – a performance of ‘Jiin Ma Jiin Ma’ from their 2015 show at Jazz à Vienne Festival in France.

Source: Voice Online

The Virtual Brooklyn Art Book Fair Showcases New Artists’ Books & More.

Organized by Endless Editions, this year’s fair features 47 vendors, interactive public programs, and more.

Summer has finally bloomed in New York, meaning it’s about that time when the Brooklyn Art Book Fair returns with its annual showcase of independent artist-run presses and organizations. The fair, which was begun in 2017 out of a desire to make the art and publishing worlds more accessible, is one of the few that offers a free platform to vendors, allowing them to gain exposure without a financial barrier. At a time when small presses and arts organizations are being negatively impacted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, along with many other sectors, such an opportunity is especially welcome.

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Call for applications: Fellowship on African studies in Germany.

Launched in 2019, the AMCE seeks to reconfigure African studies at both conceptual and the structural levels. The fellowships are conceived as a transformative space for the systematic study of societal, cultural, economic, political and aesthetic processes in Africa and its diasporas, enabling new forms of inter- and transdisciplinary cooperation, including artistic outreach.

The academy will award two fellowships for a period ranging from one to six months, during which the fellows will carry out their research in an efficiently managed environment with excellent working conditions.

Who can apply?

Musicians.
Visual artists.
Composers.
Writers.
Novelists.
Poets.
Dancers.
Fellow activities include:

Participating in the cluster’s research events while in residence; these include regular Thursday afternoon lectures, seminars and discussion groups.
Offering event platforms (reading, performance, concert, exhibition, screening, or the like) based on the art project pursued during the fellowship.
Joining and animating discussion sessions with doctoral candidates and contributing to existing formats such as summer schools.
Collaboration with Bayreuth-based scholars.
Requirements

A cover letter explaining your motivation to apply for an academy fellowship and indicating the envisaged time of the same (3 500 words max).
CV (PDF format).
Project outline (2 200 words max)
A brief statement on the intended contribution to the cluster’s agenda (600 words max).
A brief statement explaining how any or all the following aspects of diversity will be interrogated in your project: gender and sexuality, class and socioeconomic positionalities, religious and racial politics, disability politics, intersectional readings of power relations, the historicisation of colonial influences on African (continental and diasporic) artistic practices and productions (600 words max).
A complete list of publications, if applicable (PDF format).
Names and contact details of two referees.
The academy will provide the following:

Adequately equipped working space and access to the library resources at University of Bayreuth, as well as access to the collections and archives of Iwalewahaus.
Travel fees and a monthly fellowship, a living allowance, and a mobility/family allowance.
The application deadline is 30 June 2020.

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