Blogs in July 2020

Last of the Sweet Bananas: New & Selected Poems 6th July 2020

Because he was a radical poet, Jack Mapanje was imprisoned without trial or charge by the dictator Hastings Banda of Malawi for nearly four years. The themes of his poetry range from the search for a sense of dignity...

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The Chattering Wagtails of Mikuyu Prison 6th July 2020

Formerly Head of English at the University of Malawi, Mapanje was arrested and imprisoned without trial for four years. In these poems of power and unflinching description, he condemns a brutal regime. Today, living in England, he celebrates the...

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The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind 6th July 2020

When William Kamkwamba was just 14 years old, his family told him that he must leave school and come home to work on the farm – they could no longer afford his fees. This is his story of how...

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Skipping without Ropes 6th July 2020

Because he was a radical poet, Jack Mapanje was imprisoned without trial or charge by the dictator Hastings Banda of Malawi for nearly four years. Skipping without Ropes is his third and most varied collection, with poems on his...

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Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight 1st January 1970

Don’t Let’s go to the Dogs Tonight is a wonderfully evocative memoir of Alexandra Fuller’s African childhood. Fuller regards herself “as a daughter of Africa”, who spent her early life on farms in Zimbabwe, Malawi and Zambia throughout the...

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