Culture Corner 005

April is the month where in some parts of the globe Spring has sprung and it feels like a rebirth. During this time Poetry and Jazz are recognized and celebrated on a national level. The combo of poetry and jazz is definitely a vibe, makes me think of the movie, Love Jones.

As many of you know, me and Emerald hosted a live discussing Nikki G.’s documentary, Going to Mars, its currently streaming on HBO Max. I recommended it my community and what I’ve heard is life changing feedback. As we were going through her poetry I began to feel like I have been cheated by not having anyone to introduce her to me earlier in my life. Emerald reminded me, that books find us at the right time, when we are ready.

Speaking of when we’re ready, for this month I wanted to read my Botswana book of choice, Call & Response, lately I have been reading quite a bit of Afro American Lit, so I’ve mentally pushed it back.

On the StoryGraph app, I’ve added 25 African countries for my Travel to Africa Through Literature challenge and adding books as I go.

StoryGraph Challenge

Now, moving on to the poetry world in Africa. By now, many us know about the Heinemann African Writers Series, but did you know there was an separate series dedicated to poetry? I’ve only discovered it myself last year. The African Poetry Book Series, established by the African Poetry Book Fund (APBF) and led by Kwame Dawes, officially began publishing in January 2012. The series publishes four new titles by African poets annually, along with anthologies and the New Generation African Poets chapbook box sets. 1

The Ghanaian poet, Kofi Awoonor, agreed to be published as the first of the African Poetry Classics Series, his collection was published posthumously in 2014. Several African poets who are now with the ancestors, had their work posthumously re-issued through a partnership with Nebraska University Press: Keorapetse Kgositsile: Collected Poems, 1969-2018, After the Ceremonies: New and Selected Poems by Ama Ata Aidoo, and Collected Poems by Gabriel Okara.2

The latest book of poetry to be published was released in March 2026, I Have a Home, There is a We. This collection uses traditional Swahili verse to convey the diasporic experience, blending love songs, laments, and political defiance. The original Swahili edition, N'na Kwetu, won the first Safal-Cornell Kiswahili Prize for African Literature in 2015.

• Black Girl, Bloom Bright: Mahogany L. Browne (Poetry)

• The Siege of the Owls: Uchenna Awoke

• One Leg on Earth: Pemi Aguda

• Gahlen (A Romance in Black): Walter Mosely

• A Song for Juneteenth: Zetta Elliott (Children’s)

• Malcolm in the Desert: Ilyasha Shabazz (YA)

• On Witness & Despair: Jesmyn Ward (Nonficiton)

• Masobe books aims to increase literacy rates with their new reading app

• Ghanaian POET GABRIEL AWUAH MINOO WINS 2025-2026 DIANN BLAKELY EMERGING POET PRIZE

• FIRST FEMALE NGONI CHIEF IN MALAWI ENDS CHILD MARRIAGE

• ETHIOPIA HAS RECLAIMED AN IMPERIAL GOLD HAIRPIN THAT WAS LOOTED OVER 150 YEARS AGO. THE ARTIFACT BELONGED TO EMPRESS TIRUWORK AND WAS TAKEN BY BRITISH TROOPS DURING THE 1868 BATTLE OF MAGDALA.

• SAN DIEGO’S FIRST BLACK FIREFIGHTER DIES AT 100

• Melvin Edwards, Who Sculpted a New Vocabulary for Political Art, Dies at 88

• James Gadson, Drummer for Marvin Gaye and Diana Ross, Dead at 86

• Wu-Tang Clan, Fela Kuti, & Sade have been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

• Atlanta historian who shaped how the city preserves Black history dies at 73

• Actor STERLING K. BROWN NAMED

  ONE OF TIME’S 100 MOST

  INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE OF 2026

• JAMAICAN AUTHOR KEI

  MILLER WINS PRESTIGIOUS

  $175,000 WINDHAM-CAMPBELL PRIZE

• Grace Ladoja is making history as Nike’s first collaboration with an African woman shoe designer

  In connecting with her

  music festival, HOMECOMING, she designed two new colorways on the Air Max Plus TN.

• Poet & activist aja monet new album will be released May 22

• Last, but not least, the WNBA is starting preseason games April 25th, you can download the app and access games early for $35 a year! Two Nigerians and a Kenyan lady have been drafted this year and I’m so in love with watching women succeed in what the world considers a male dominated sport!

• https://museumofafricanpoetry.org/collections/