Some of Africa's most exciting contemporary writer's, including Lubna Ahmed al-Hussein, Petina Gappah and Kopano Matlwa visited the Gothenburg Book Fair this year. Between them they have won The Orange Award, the Wole Soyinka Prize, the Noma Award and The Guardian's First Book Prize. They have also been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, listed as the ‘New Literary Idol' by New York Magazine, acknowledged by International PEN and praised by media the world over. Afriversity Founder, Thorgeir Einarsson and Founding Fellow, Natasha Avidan got the chance to meet some of these inspirational personalities and tell them about Afriversity.
We met with the EU Literary Award-winning Kopano Matlwa, one of South Africa’s most vibrant young writers. A medical graduate, Kopano is the author of the critically acclaimed novel Coconut. She is a founding member and chairperson of Waiting Room Education by Medical Students, a non-profit organisation run by students and is a 2010 Rhodes Scholar. She was so impressed with our initiative in South Africa.The Reverend Mpho A. Tutu, daughter of Archbisop Desmond Tutu, wrote a note of encourage and sent her blessings to the entire Afriversity Team (see photo)
Author Henning Mankell´s novels about detective Kurt Wallander and the African girl Sofia has made him into one of the best selling authors in the world. Thorgeir managed to greet one of his idols before listening to his stories from Mozambique.
Many of the African writers said that they had never visited a better fair! It was wonderful! What an experience!
