I Write Into the Yawning Void is Magona’s new book, released in the year she turns 80. Björn Rudner.
Björn Rudman
From domestic worker to matriarch of South African literature, the book is a reflection on her writing journey.
Paulina Chiziane in Portugal after being awarded the Camões Prize for writers from Portuguese-speaking countries.
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The Camões Prize is the most important award for Portuguese literature, and Paulina Chiziane is the first African woman to receive it.
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Studies show unisex toilets don’t lead to violence – and they create a safer space for gender diverse people.
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Kenya’s experienced fast population growth and urbanisation - this has brought about some big challenges.
A still from the documentary about growing up in South Africa.
Milisuthando/Rob Pollock/Francis Burger
Opening the Encounters documentary festival in South Africa, the film has received international praise.
South Africa’s healthcare system has gaps in providing HIV treatment to highly mobile women.
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The vulnerability of migrants was highlighted during the COVID-19 pandemic when restrictions affected people’s ability to travel to access treatment.
Ama Ata Aidoo passed away at the age of 81.
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A commanding presence on the global literary stage, Ama Ata Aidoo was a powerful feminist voice with a prolific output.
Ghanaian-born curator of the biennale, Lesley Lokko.
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The Venice Architecture Biennale has an African curator for the first time this year – and a shift in focus.
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In addition to motherhood these girls experience social inequality, chronic stress, violence, and food insecurity. When teenagers become mothers, their adversities are compounded.
Nelson Mandela and Winnie Madikizela-Mandela at home in 1990.
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Jonny Steinberg talks about his intimate double biography of the famous South African leaders.
Former South African constitutional court judge, Yvonne Mokgoro.
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Justice Mokgoro’s advocacy for group solidarity and reconciliation is discernible in several of her judgments.
Detail of an illustration of Theodosia Okoh, who designed Ghana’s flag.
Illustrations by Denyse Gawu-Mensah/Black and Bold Queens
Women who shaped modern Ghana have been erased from history. A children’s book aims to restore them to their rightful place.
Cleopatra (centre) is played by a black actress, Adele James, in the new Netflix docudrama series.
Image courtesy Netflix
The ethnicity outcry says more about today’s preoccupations with race than ancient Egypt’s.
Detail from the cover of the children’s book Kayo’s House by Ugandan author Barbara Kimenye.
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At independence, adults were reading decolonial classics - but children were reading Enid Blyton. A generation of unsung women writers changed that.
Detail from the cover of an edition of Amma Darko’s novel Faceless.
Sub-Saharan Publishers
A psychologist and a literary scholar analyse Faceless, a powerful novel about homeless children - and their mothers.
Many children help out on family farms in Africa.
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Children working on family farms is often mistaken for harmful child labour.
A holocaust survivor who also witnessed apartheid, Ruth Weiss will receive national honours.
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Weiss witnessed atrocities in Germany and South Africa and railed against them, becoming a towering figure as a writer and poet.
Fetching water is a chore, but some women also said it was a welcome opportunity to be in nature.
Tony Dold
Experiencing nature helps people in times of joy and pain. However, inequity of access to green spaces means that South Africans cannot enjoy nature when they need to.
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Health extension workers in Ethiopia have had a measurable impact on interconnected challenges such as child marriage, teenage pregnancy, and school dropout.
The numbers showed a wide variation in coverage in different geographic regions.
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Cervical cancer is one of the most common cancers in women. Mortality rates in sub-Saharan Africa are three times higher than the global average.