Newswise — Many of the world's finest scholars, poets, authors and reviewers of African literature, as well as film-makers and traditional performers, will convene at Western Illinois University in Macomb April 22-27 for the 34th Annual African Literature Association (ALA) Conference, "African and African Diaspora Women Writers, Global Challenges and Cultural Identity."
"The conference will celebrate the creativity, versatility and vibrancy of the women of Africa and African Diaspora," said Abdul-Rasheed Na'Allah, WIU's African American studies chair and conference convener. "We're expecting more than 400 participants; and I am pleased to have so many exceptional scholars, writers, artists and performers coming to this conference to share their talents with one another as well as with faculty and students from area universities and high schools and the public."
The ALA conference will include a variety of concurrent workshops, panel discussions, fiction and poetry readings, African cinema and art, African children's literature, performances, book signings and more. Complete conference information is available at http://www.wiu.edu/ALA2008.
A sub-theme is the 50th anniversary celebration of Chinua Achebe's first novel, "Things Fall Apart," which has been translated into 50 languages and has sold nearly 11 million copies. The author, who is the Charles P. Stevenson Jr. Professor of Languages and Literature at Bard College (NY), received the 2007 Man Booker International Prize for lifetime achievement in fiction.
Included in the more than 25 distinguished international guest presenters and performers are:
Chimamanda Adichie, author of award-winning books "Purple Hibiscus" (2003) and "Half of a Yellow Sun" (August, 2006), who is the April 24 luncheon keynote speaker.
Sefi Atta, decorated for short stories and radio plays. Her first novel, "Everything Good Will Come," earned the inaugural Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa (2006). Atta is the April 25 ALA banquet keynote speaker.
Other keynote speakers include Paul Bandia, University of Concordia, Montreal, who researches literal and cultural translation and African Diaspora, is the April 23 luncheon speaker; Alek Baylee Toumi, University of Wisconsin-Stevens, it the April 26 Francophone Caucus luncheon speaker; and Abiola Irele, former ALA president and visiting professor at Harvard University, is the Chinua Achebe's "Things Fall Apart" 50th Anniversary luncheon speaker on April 25.
Additional notable participants include writer Jamaica Kincaid; Papa Susso, master kora artist; Tunde Kelani, filmmaker, director, cinematographer and producer; and Newton I. Aduaka, filmmaker, director.
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