Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Reading Eshun and reflecting on identity, Teju Cole,Chika Unigwe & Sheba Foods

Have just finished Ekow Eshun's Black Gold of the Sun which I found eyeopening. Part memoir, part travelogue, it's Eshun's exploration of his identity. Brought up in England but born of Ghanaian parents, he feels increasingly isolated in London and visits Ghana in an attempt to find himself (so to speak). It was interesting for me because I had never really seriously considered the position of people in that situation. I'd always assumed that they just ought to embrace their Africanness in an unproblematic fashion, but Eshun lays out through his experiences, why it's not so simple........and making me appreciate even more my parents' decision to bring us up largely in Nigeria....

Stumbled across the most delightful Nigerian travel blog in words and pictures- It's a lyrical haunting travel diary by Teju Cole (which I suspect is a pseudonym) and he says it will disappear at the end of January- I hope not! http://tejucole.typepad.com/teju_cole/

The Nigerian Belgian writer, Chika Unigwe who has often dropped by this blog to leave messages and comments has been nominated for the Dutch Vrouw & Kultuur Debutprijs 2006, which is for the best first book in Dutch by a woman writer. Well done!

Also stumbled across this website http://www.shebafoods.com/which boasts that it's the first to manufacture ready prepared Nigerian food. I'm not sure they deliver to the UK but I loved looking at the photographs of delicious looking plates of good Naija food....

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