Commonwealth Short Story Prize 2024: Five writers from Africa – an interview with Azags Agandaa
2024-06-05"Ghanaians from different parts of the country, including from the north, as well as immigrants from around West Africa, are all trying to eke out a living in here. These people bring in their stories, religions, lived experiences, struggles, cultures and identities into the one basket of Accra."
Commonwealth Short Story Prize 2024: an interview with Jean Pierre Nikuze
2024-05-30"In my story, a woman grieving the theft of her newborn son from the maternity ward takes matters into her own hands."
The Commonwealth Short Story Prize 2024: an interview with Olajide Omojarabi
2024-05-28"Growing up, I saw many boys and girls give up so much to play top-flight football, which often didn’t work out as planned. To this day, it is still a dream widely chased on Nigerian streets and in underfunded football academies. I wrote this story to identify the struggles of these young people and let them know that their dreams are valid, regardless of the circumstances surrounding the pursuit of this career."
Commonwealth Short Story Prize 2024: an interview with Jayne Bauling
2024-05-22"I don’t plot extensively, but rather begin with the merest idea; for me, it’s the act of writing itself that unlocks the story. Once I’ve finished a story and submitted it, I feel that it is no longer mine alone, so I try not to think about it too possessively."
Power politics in the Middle East: How the global North-South divide capitalises on trauma
2024-01-26"That’s why South Africa’s case against Israel is very important and symbolic for the world. This is my opinion as someone from the global North: it demonstrates the possibility of real cosmopolitanism, the only answer to racism."