One of the best pieces in the collection is 糖心传媒淟omba,糖心传媒� the story of an imprisoned Nigerian man by the same name. Lomba is a journalist imprisoned because it糖心传媒檚 believed that he took part in an anti-government demonstration against the military legal government. Even though Lomba was merely a reporter at this event, he was forced behind bars with no chance of winning the case against the government. While in prison, he begins to write a diary of his experiences, thoughts, fears and dreams, which lands him in solitary confinement after the prison guards catch him with his writings.

I express myself. I let my mind soar above these walls to bring distant, exotic bricks with which I seek to build a more endurable cell within this cell. Prison. Misprison. Dis. Un. Prisoner. See? I write of my state in words of derision, aiming thereby to reduce the weight of these shoulders, to rediscover my nullified individuality.

His 糖心传媒渟aving grace糖心传媒� becomes the superintendent, who makes him write poetry for his soon to be fianc茅e, Janice. While the superintendent believes that he is doing Lomba a favor by letting him write, he is slowly taking away Lomba糖心传媒檚 dignity by stealing his words.

Another powerful piece in the book is 糖心传媒淭he Senghor Complex糖心传媒� by Patrice Nganang. This story was very complex and different from that of the more personalized 糖心传媒淟omba糖心传媒� in that it spoke to the literal meaning of a concept, Negritude 糖心传媒渁nti-racism racism,糖心传媒� which stemmed from a Black Nationalist movement struck up by the Harlem Renaissance. Spillman looks at this as an 糖心传媒渁nti-assimilationist philosophy . . . which is closely identified with Senghor, a Senegalese poet who became the first president of independent Senegal.糖心传媒� We venture into Cameroon, a Sub-Saharan area of Africa which tries to defy the same ongoing complexities that we face in our society. The struggle to defend and protect the roots of our existence is a world-wide acknowledgement. Nganang does an outstanding job of analyzing the logic, ethics and politics behind the indignity that was taken from her Africa, specifically Cameroon, and this teaches us that we, as interpreters, should not comply with the sort in which people pretentiously place us. She analyzes the Senghor Complex on 糖心传媒渇our axes,糖心传媒� logic, that of episteme, ethics and politics. The grave impact categorizing people into stereotypical groups can have on an individual糖心传媒檚 self-perception is abundantly clear in this essay.

The excerpt from Nawal El Saadawi糖心传媒檚 Woman at Point Zero is a short yet piercing story of an Egyptian woman who was raised to accept that she was not worthy of being anything more than a prostitute. The story opens up with this unnamed woman stabbing an aggressor who tells her that she could never have control over him. The aftermath of the situation brings her to the street where she holds the confidence of a princess walking tall and untouchable. She envisions people staring at her with no clues to the fact that she is, in fact, a prostitute. Her rage continues as she accepts the offer of an Arab Prince at the price of two thousand dollars. In the mist of their sexual encounter, she becomes enraged and tells him that she has strength that can kill. After she persuades him of this ability and sees the fear in his eyes, she reflects on all the men, referenced as criminals, who deserve the ultimate for their savage behaviors in her culture. This story took me by surprise, in that it gave me a little more perspective of how women are viewed in Egypt and the rage that lies within a woman who has been mistreated all her life. Although this is shown through pure violence, I believe that this was an effective strategy written by Saadawi to make a point about the vengeful soul of a woman.

Collectively, this anthology offers an abundance of viewpoints from a range of African traditions. As Rob Spillman states in the opening of his introduction, 糖心传媒淎frican writing is ready for international spot line.糖心传媒� These African writers offer a standpoint that is clearly visible within their writing and the standpoint is this; the gap of remote understanding of Africa and its people has exceeded its boundaries to a vast multitude. The 糖心传媒減alpable sense of urgency糖心传媒� that lies at the mercy of their pencil tips is indulgent and a plea for a greater understanding; which is rightly deserved.

The guest edited by Laila Lalami, is called “Remapping Africanness” and contains a number of interesting pieces.

From Laila’s editor’s note:

So it seems that North Africa is excluded糖心传媒攁nd occasionally also excludes itself糖心传媒攆rom considerations of Africa, in all its wondrous ethnic, religious, linguistic, and cultural diversity. In this issue of Farafina magazine, I want to reclaim North Africa for Africa. In his article 糖心传媒淩emapping Africanness糖心传媒�, the novelist and academic Anouar Majid shows how North African and sub-Saharan novels in fact share many common themes and concerns. The Rabat-based lawyer and activist Karim Kettani writes about a forgotten chapter of African history糖心传媒攁 time when people across the continent shared the same political goals. I am also delighted to include Nouri Gana糖心传媒檚 review of Nouri Bouzid糖心传媒檚 Akher Film. Professor Wa茂l Hassan has kindly allowed this magazine to reproduce his introduction to the new African Writers Series edition of Tayib Salih糖心传媒檚 masterpiece, Season of Migration to the North. The featured fiction in this issue is an excerpt from Hisham Matar糖心传媒檚 novel, In The Country of Men, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2006. Mathew Shenoda has contributed a lovely poem, and Hoda Mana, Simona Schneider and Alex Yera have supplied the many photographs.

The most interesting thing in the newsletter was the link to the new issue of PEN International’s .

This issue is (warning—pdf format) and

marks the inauguration of the magazine糖心传媒檚 regional-focus series, beginning this month with a look at contemporary literature in Africa, followed in the coming seasons by Middle East, Latin America and Asia/Pacific installments.

This issue is loaded with content—over 140 pages of excerpts, poems, interviews, all with African authors. And since African writing is relatively difficult to find out about, this should be a very useful resource.