“This dearth of editorial talent on the continent often results in the mistranslation of sensibility, or subjectivity when foreign editors take on African books. We conceived this fellowship in response to that. We conceived of this fellowship in response to this.”

“In creating this fellowship, we asked ourselves what tradition we could follow to indicate the continuation of a lineage—someone whose work, though not much talked about, changed the trajectory and development of literature on the continent—and we immediately thought of the great Rajat Neogy, who founded Transition when he was just 22”

Today, two words describe most of the discourse around Africa and the black diaspora: “racism” and “colonization.” But the idea of a black self outside of external definitions requires language that exists beyond the influences […]

For the third edition of the Long Talk series, Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi and Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor re-examined what it means to formulate a state.

“Moving away from the regular trope of the “founding fathers,” Owuor and Makumbi who have both written books that critically assess the origin of nations (Kenya and Uganda respectively), will be in conversation, exposing us to the anxieties, insights, and stories that birthed their projects.”

“Ladan Osman and Safia Elhillo: ‘Intimate Archives and Reimagined Histories’ for Long Talk: Conversations Across Intimate Diasporas”

“Kwame Dawes and Gregory Pardlo: ‘Intimate Archives and Reimagined Histories’ for Long Talk: Conversations Across Intimate Diasporas”