Fresh off a PEN/Open Book award for her 2016 story collection, What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours (Riverhead Books), author Helen Oyeyemi continues to emerge as a voice of global importance. At just 32 years of age, Oyeyemi is already a veteran author of six highly acclaimed books. Oyeyemi was born in Nigeria in 1984 and…
The 2017 Women in the World Summit was a powerful three-day celebration of the female voice in the midst of a tumultuous political and cultural climate. The annual conference was started by Tina Brown in 2010 and consists of speakers, panels, and performances centered around the theme of building a better world for women and…
Ndija Anderson-Yantha, like most black women, learned at a young age that how she wore her hair was a complex subject that many had strong opinions about. Her hair attracted a lot of attention, both positive and negative. While an undergraduate at Spelman College, she was startled to be given the advice, “if you would…
Inspiring South African activist Ahmed Kathrada passed away at the age of 87 on March 28th, but he leaves a powerful and lasting legacy. He is most known for his time working in the anti-apartheid movement with the African National Congress and his subsequent long-term imprisonment. Kathrada began activism at a very young age and worked tirelessly…
Johns Hopkins Welcomes its First Black Female Neurosurgery Resident Nancy Abu-Bonsrah is now the first black female resident at the prestigious Johns Hopkins neurosurgery department. She was born and raised in the Ashanti region of Ghana until she moved to Maryland with her parents at the age of 15. After graduating high school at Hammond High School…
America’s loss is South Africa’s gain. Writer and scholar Wole Soyinka has joined the University of Johannesburg’s faculty as a Distinguished Visiting Professor. The distinction comes after Soyinka, the first African writer to win a Nobel Prize in Literature, made good on a promise to cut up his green card in the event of a…
For Christians, Easter represents the hopes of eternal life and the veracity of Jesus as the Savior. This year, Easter offers an amazing first-time look into the tomb of Jesus. The coveted shrine, called the Edicule, sits at the center of one of the world’s oldest churches—the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The tomb, which…
The 2017 PEN America Center Literary Awards evening touted a marvelous array of African and African-American authors among the writers recognized at this year’s gala. Celebrated at the New School’s glamorous John L. Tishman Auditorium on March 27, the winners reflect the complex tapestry of the African diaspora. The awards’ final night came with some surprises.…
Comedian Ben Stiller is back in the news, this time teaming up with Vine sensation Jérôme Jarre to spread awareness about the famine in Somalia and to help bring aid to the devastated region. Jarre and Stiller have teamed up with American Refugee Committee (ARC), a non-governmental organization, to help raise money and deliver much-needed…
Nji Collins Gbah, a 17-year-old student from Cameroon, is the latest winner of the Google Code-In Challenge, an annual contest that encourages young students around the world to show off their programming skills. Nji has certainly made his nation proud by becoming the first African to earn this prestigious award; moreover, he did so…
