AFRICAN BOOK CLUB | Lagoon
This is an updated post. Please note we have chosen a new book for this month.
THE AFRICAN BOOK CLUB @ MOAD
An ongoing series in partnership with Faith Adiele.
April’s book selection is Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor.
Author Nnedi Okorafor will join us to answer any questions from the group!
How to participate: Get a copy of the book, read it in advance of the meeting, and then discuss the book with a group of people interested in reading African literature online via zoom on April 26th at 5:00 PM.
This book is available widely on e-book platforms. MoAD is not able currently to carry it in our store. If you would like to order a copy, please consider supporting a local, independent bookstore such as Pegasus Bookstore in the East Bay, or Books Inc. in San Francisco.
Here’s what you will need to join us online for the event:
URL: https://cca.zoom.us/j/319545975
The Meeting ID is the last digits of the link: 319 545 975
Password: None required
Dial-in number for folks without smartphones who only want to listen, not video conference: 669-900-6833
You do not need an account to participate in a Zoom session. Simply click on the link and follow the easy directions. For the best experience, download the Zoom app to your phone, laptop or tablet. It’s quick and easy. However, you may participate from your browser without downloading the app, but with limited functionality. Depending on the age of your computer, you may need a speaker and microphone to hear and speak. On a smartphone, just put the meeting on speaker or use ear/headphones for enhanced audio. Here’s a 53-second YouTube video explaining how to join a meeting: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/201362193-How-Do-I-Join-A-Meeting-
Hosted by Faith Adiele, Author, Professor & Co-Founder of African Book Club
About Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor
Finalist for the A British Science Fiction Association Award
When a massive object crashes into the ocean off the coast of Lagos, Nigeria’ s most populous and legendary city, three people wandering along Bar Beach (Adaora, the marine biologist- Anthony, the rapper famous throughout Africa- Agu, the troubled soldier) find themselves running a race against time to save the country they love and the world itself… from itself.
Lagoon expertly juggles multiple points of view and crisscrossing narratives with prose that is at once propulsive and poetic, combining everything from superhero comics to Nigerian mythology to tie together a story about a city consuming itself.
At its heart a story about humanity at the crossroads between the past, present, and future, Lagoon touches on political and philosophical issues in the rich tradition of the very best science fiction, and ultimately asks us to consider the things that bind us together – and the things that make us human.
A star falls from the sky. A woman rises from the sea. The world will never be the same.
Nnedi Okorafor is a Nigerian-American author of Africanfuturism and Africanjujuism for children and adults. Her works include WHO FEARS DEATH (in development at HBO into a TV series), the BINTI novella trilogy, THE BOOK OF PHOENIX, the AKATA books and LAGOON. She is the winner of Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, Locus and Lodestar Awards and her debut novel ZAHRAH THE WINDSEEKER won the prestigious Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature. Her next novel, IKENGA, will be in stores August 2020.
Nnedi has also written comics for Marvel, including BLACK PANTHER: LONG LIVE THE KING and WAKANDA FOREVER (featuring the Dora Milaje) and the SHURI series, an Africanfuturist comic series LAGUARDIA (from Dark Horse) and her short memoir BROKEN PLACES AND OUTER SPACES. Nnedi is also cowriter the adaptation of Octavia Butler’s WILD SEED with Viola Davis and Kenyan film director Wanuri Kahiu. Nnedi holds a PhD (literature) and two MAs (journalism and literature). She lives with her daughter Anyaugo and family in Illinois.
Small Country by Gaël Faye will be a selection for the African Book Club in the future.
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