Another week gone...more African writing

This week's sped past so fast, partly because I've been away on a course which was rather gruelling and didn't offer me much chance to get to a computer, let alone blog....you know them those intensive eat, sleep breathe things with lots of "group work" and "interactivity"....

Quite a bit has happened while I was away...in the UK, the David Blunkett saga came to a rather sorry end with him resigning for the second (and probably final) time . I did try to be sympathetic and charitable about it, but having arrived in the UK when he was hardline Home Secretary and mouthing off toughly about immigrants and asylum seekers and anti-social behaviour, I've never really warmed to him, a position not helped by the apparent hubris that seems to characterize Blair and his New Labour acolytes, in which they fail or refuse to appreciate why certain positions they take are being criticized. I did respect David Blunkett's achievements as someone who grew up blind in a deprived Northern city, his ending up in the Cabinet was a fantastic achievement. But he showed spectacularly poor judgement.......

In Nigeria, the investigation into the plane crash has started with experts from the US flying in to assist the Nigerian authorities. I did get a look at the Nigerian newspapers and magazines for last week and they tried to answer some of the questions raised. Many remain however and there were concerns about the credibility of the panel of enquiry as its membership and terms of reference appeared to be shrouded in secrecy....

I've had lots of feedback on this blog for which I'm very grateful. Chika Unigwe, (the talented Nigerian writer whose De Feniks is published in Dutch and is the first by a first generation immigrant in Belgium) has suggested Ben Okri's In Arcadia and Bernadine Evaristo's Laura as an addition to my contemporary Nigerian fiction list and tells me that she is reading with Brian Chikwava(the 2004 Caine Prize winner) tonight in London at the Institute of Education in Bloomsbury. She's also suggested Jackee Budesta Batanda as another Ugandan writer to look out for.....