Title: Tram 83
Author: Fiston Mwanza Mujila
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Deep Vellum Publishing
Country: Democratic Republic of Congo
Tram 83, a nightclub nestled amidst the bustling streets of Kinshasa, is a country onto itself, “the only place on earth where you could hang yourself, defecate, blaspheme, fall into infatuation, and thieve without regard to prying eyes.”
Lucien, an idealistic young writer, does most of these in his quest to survive the eclectic mix of “for-profit tourists, the miners, the itinerant Pentecostal preachers and the high priests of the Second Republic.” His friend Requiem, meanwhile, navigates an underworld of violent and shady deals.
Mwanza Mujila’s novel revolves around the liaisons of ‘Baby Chicks’ and the powerful: In Tram 83, money rules everything and power is the ultimate elixir. The writing is sharp, funny and insightful without ever becoming preachy.
Longlisted for The Man Booker Prize International and winner of The English Pen Award, few novels have burst onto the African literature scene so viscerally as Tram 83.
Words: Alex Macbeth
Title: We Should all be Feminists
Author: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Genre: Essay
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Country: Nigeria
Adapted from Adichie’s popular 2013 TED x Euston talk of the same name. We Should all be Feminists is a timeless prose and balanced argument on what feminism means in the twenty-first century.
With a healthy dosage of humour and wit, Adichie shines a light on discrimination and institutional attitudes that marginalise women around the world, providing readers from all walks of life with an understanding of the masked realities of sexual politics.
Adichie has made a name for herself as a best-selling novelist and leader in disporian literature. Her subjective definition of the term feminist is one that is rooted in inclusion and awareness, urging us all to become evermore observant when rallying for women’s right.
