Here We Read For Fun

In Conversation with Idza Luhumyo

“My locs are just shy of five years. They flow, like water. They are fluffy and black. They are dark. I forbid anyone to touch them.” I’ve rarely read stories that celebrate dread locs in the opening sentences, so this grabbed me immediately. I myself have had my dreads (as I grew up calling them…

In Conversation with Nana-Ama Danquah

I don’t normally read the introduction of books, but on a whim I did so for the short story collection Accra Noir. Edited and curated by Nana-Ama Danquah, her lyrical descriptions of modern and historical Accra drew me into her perspective of her home and left me feeling taunt with anticipation for the stories to…

In Conversation with Jasmine Sealy

The first thing that intrigued me about Bajan author Jasmine Sealy’s debut novel was that her main characters had Greek names: Cronus, Iapetus, Atlas, Pleione, Calypso, Nautilus. Admittedly, I struggled to imagine how the names could represent a Caribbean narrative, but that was the exact reason I wanted to read The Island of Forgetting. I…

Dele Weds Destiny

Tomi Obaro | Nigeria I have two friends from Trinidad, Andrea and Jackie, who I’ve known since we were five. We lost touch during our teenage years and reconnected in our 30s and have been regularly in touch ever since. It’s grown into the type of friendship where we share laughs, our pet peeves, craziness…

In Conversation with Jendella Benson

There’s a new wave of African British writers that has been pulling me toward their stories of the African diaspora, similar to the Caribbean diaspora stories that have been published for decades. Debut author Jendella Benson is no stranger to the public eye: she’s been writing, filming, photographing, and speaking during her career and her…

Book Accessibility in Africa: A Conversation with Bookstagrammers

Something that has been striking to me ever since I joined bookstagram and hearing from others who live in other parts of the world, is how difficult is to access books in Africa and the Caribbean. I wanted to have a conversation specifically with these two bookstagrammers, Amyn Bawa from Nigeria and Faith Nzama from…

The Island Of Forgetting

Jasmine Sealy | Barbados The Island of Forgetting explores aspects of Caribbean life that goes against the perception of the tropical paradise trope from vacation brochures. Sealy deftly maneuvers us into the lives of a Barbadian family struggling with generational depression and the secrets that hold them hostage from their past, the knowledge which would…

100 Caribbean Books That Made Me

In 2020 the Bocas Caribbean Literary Festival polled readers to suggest Caribbean books they grew up reading and loved, and published its 100 Caribbean Books That Made Us listing. In June 2022 for Caribbean American Heritage month and Read Caribbean month on Instagram, I decided to spend the month listing the 100 Caribbean books that…

Hope and Glory

Jendella Benson | Nigeria A young woman named Glory has returned home to the UK for her father’s funeral. She’s very insecure about her past choices that took her to Los Angeles, and this insecurity manifests itself in periodic bouts of anxiety. Returning has opened her eyes to the realization that her family is fractured…

In Conversation with Simfoni Nibbs

Simfoni Nibbs, the founder of Books ‘n Bush Tea, first came on my radar in 2020 when she was interviewed on an Instagram Live and I’ve followed her page ever since. So, when she announced that she would be starting a book truck business on the U.S. Virgin Islands, I was intrigued and excited for…