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Books

Kano is a book lover’s paradise

By Books, Mail & Guardian, Nigeria No Comments

I didn’t want to go to Nigeria. I have nothing against the place, I just had too much to do inAi??too many other places that I felt I knew more about. The only time I had spent in Nigeria was changing planes in Lagos many years ago where I watched a tractor drive over my suitcase, twice, while waiting for a connecting flight to Johannesburg. These days I spend part of most months in Nigeria and my learning curve has been steep. Fortunately, Nigeria is a fabulous book country. Nigerians like to talk, and they like to put a lot…

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Bewitching tale casts light on Kinshasa’s street children

By Books, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mail & Guardian No Comments

Kinshasa is the second-biggest French-speaking city in the world. One might expect it would follow in the footsteps of Paris, a fabulous book city and probably the best place to find books from and on Africa. Kinshasa bakers, after all, manage to produce baguettes and croissants that are every bit as mouth-watering as those found in the far north. And the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is not short of excellent writers. But good bookshops are as rare as henai??i??s teeth. The one biggish bookshop in KinAi??shasa, a city with probably more than twice as many people as JohanAi??nesburg, was…

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