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Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie attends the Dior Haute Couture Spring/Summer 2020 show as part of Paris Fashion Week on January 20, 2020 in Paris, France.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Announces Release of New Book 'Notes on Grief'

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has announced that her new book 'Notes on Grief' will be released this coming May. The book is an homage to her father who died of kidney disease late last year.

Award-winning Nigerian author, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, has reportedly announced that her new published book Notes on Grief will be out on the 11th of May 2021. The book follows Adichie's published New York Times essay which detailed her grieving process after her father, James Nwoye Adichie, died last year. Adichie's publishing company Knopf shared the thrilling news on their Twitter page.


Read: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Biafra Novel Snags 'Winner of Winners' Award

The executive vice president and publisher of Knopf, Reagan Arthur stated that Notes on Grief is honest insight on the universal experience of grief. Arthur, according to Literary Hub, described the book as "an exquisite work of meditation, remembrance, and hope". Adichie's father passed unexpectedly during the COVID-19 pandemic. The novelist was reportedly at her home in the US when her father passed away in Nigeria and subsequently viewed his body through her cellphone screen. According to The Guardian, Adichie explores the anger and loneliness that accompanied her experience of loss and contrasts it with cultural dimensions of grieving.

According to Brittle Paper, James Nwoye Adichie was the first Professor of Statistics in Nigeria. The book will tell the story behind the man who was not only an academic but a man who survived the Biafran war. Adichie described her father as "the loveliest man" and credited him for his stories from the Biafran war which influenced Half of a Yellow Sun. Notes on Grief uses her New York Times essay title which was published just a month before her father's burial which she physically attended in Nigeria.

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Black Sherif, Africa’s Young Bright Black Star

We trail the Ghanaian superstar as he plays his first sold-out show in New York City.

“I leave my art to breathe. I don't apply no pressure,” Black Sherif shares one of his many philosophical principles with me in the OkayAfrica offices. The 21-year-old Ghanaian newcomer has only been professionally releasing music since 2019 but he has already become the youngest singer to win Artist of the Year at the 2023 Vodafone Ghana Music Awards.

He reacts to the news with a boyishly shy grin: “It’s mad.”

Last October, his breakthrough album The Villian I Never Was cemented him as a rising talent to watch. The sonic palette of his debut showcased an eclectic fusion of drill, Afrobeats, reggae, and hip-hop. Critical acclaim abounded, as well as collaborations with the likes of Popcaan and Burna Boy.

For as long as the West has smeared Africa with allegations of archaic laws and culture, Black Sherif has become the young bright Black star of what has been derogatorily referred to as the “dark continent.”

Uniting the Diaspora

Three nights earlier I had the opportunity to witness his electrifying stage presence firsthand. Palladium Times Square, New York City — stop number one of Black Sherif’s headlining tour and a long way from Konongo. Usually, concerts will open with a lesser-known artist from the same label, this one had about 20 acts.

From Nigeria and Ghana to Liberia and New York City, the diaspora united on and off stage. No one quite knew when the main act would arrive but the audience was too pleasantly tipsy to notice how much time had passed. At one point it seemed like the hosts were plucking attendees from the audience to perform — a real communal affair. Still, the crowd became restless waiting for Blacko, whose name they cheered in between pulls of smuggled cigarettes and blunts. When he burst on stage with a raucous performance of “Kwaku the Traveller,” the security guards were too enraptured to catch those health code violations.

Even without the pyrotechnics, Black Sherif commanded the stage with the combined energy of the 20 preceding artists.

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Music Brief
Image - YouTube Video Screenshot

Tiwa Savage Gets Jiggy In the Video for New Single "Pick Up"

Tiwa Savage is here to remind you, "Don't let no one play games with your heart."

Nigerian singer-songwriter Tiwa Savageis setting her fans up for one heck of a summer. Hot off of the release of her rousing single "Stamina," featuring fellow Nigerian talents Young Jonn and Ayra Starr, the Queen of Afrobeats has given us the tools needed to deal with a potential lover with terrible phone etiquette. Savage released the funky video for her latest single "Pick Up" and her line, "Not gone let the devil kolobi my happiness" had us sold from the get-go. The singer has released a number of singles this year, as fans pray that it means a full project is on the cards for us. The idea of someone not picking up Tiwa Savage's call is mindblowing, but, experiences make for great music so we assume something must have inspired the latest track.

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News Brief
Image via Getty

Egypt Expels Dutch Archeologists For "Afrocentric" Exhibit

The North African nation is unimpressed with the group's desire to "falsify history" by exploring the country's influence on Black musicians.

Authorities have banned a team of Dutch archeologists from continuing their excavation activities in the country's abundant Saqqara Necropolis.

On Monday, Holland's National Museum of Antiquities received an email from the head of foreign missions of the Egyptian Antiquities Service stating that the museum's "Kemet: Egypt in Hip-Hop, Jazz, Soul & Funk" exhibition is "falsifying history" with it's "Afrocentric" approach. Their punishment? The team, who has been working in Egypt's historical tombs since 1975, will no longer be granted access to the historical burial site.

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Music Brief
Image: YouTube screenshot

Watch: Black Sherif Praises Gob3, FC Barcelona, and More

The Ghanaian superstar recently stopped by our OkayAfrica offices to give us a closer look into what keeps him going.

What a joy it is to find out that Ghana's hottest export at the moment, Black Sherif, is a great guy, too. The "Kwaku the Traveller" songster recently stopped by the OkayAfrica offices to share his desire to travel to beautiful Namibia, the heartbreaking relationship he has with football, as well as a look into how he creates a successful hook.

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From Capetown to a Galaxy Far, Far Away: A South African Animation Studio Reimagines Star Wars

What started as a joint venture in 2015 has become a full-fledged working relationship, as Triggerfish Animation Studios cements its status as one of Disney’s most exciting collaborators.

AfroCuration is Bringing Untold Ghanaian Stories to Light

The two-day event, which consists of a Wikipedia edit-a-thon and linguistic workshop, is part of a greater push to share more local knowledge among young people on the continent.

Asake Will Headline A North American Tour This Summer

The blossoming Nigerian talent will be bringing his sold out show to American fans this summer.

New Research Out of South Africa Brings Us Closer To Understanding Ancient Human Species

The remains left by “Homo Naledi” informs us of their use of burial grounds, tribal paintings, and more.

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Three Takeaways From Burna Boy’s 'Love, Damini' Tour Wardrobe So Far

Wearing back-to-back Robert Wun from Paris La Dèfense to the London Stadium, the Afrofusion superstar has never looked this stylish.