Black History Month
October marks the start of Black History month, and to celebrate, we’ll be championing some of our favourite books over the
coming weeks.
South African novelist and Designer Yewande Omotoso’s The Woman Next Door tells the story of two warring Octogenarians in Cape Town suburbia. One is black, the other white. Neighbours and sworn enemies for years, the two are forced together in the face of an unforeseen event. Alice Pattulo’s illustrated screen print captures the playful nature of the two main characters.
Birth of a Dream Weaver is Kenyan novelist Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s memoir of his life as an ambitious young student at a Ugandan University in the 1960s. wa Thiong’o describes how living in the shadow of colonialism and then experiencing the subsequent independence of Kenya helped shape him as a writer during that time. Artist and illustrator Emmanuel Polanco’s work features on the cover.
NoViolet Bulawayo is a prize-winning author who’s novel We Need New Names was shortlisted for the Man Booker prize in 2013. In Bulawayo’s coming-of-age story, Ten-year-old Darling navigates her youth in a Zimbabwean shantytown and then adulthood in America in hopes of a better life. The cover incorporates an illustration by Georgina Potier, and was created by the title being painted onto tin and then photographed. The brightly coloured lettering is highly reminiscent of hand painted signage often seen advertising businesses throughout Africa.
All three are available now.
