49 Under African Skies

United Kingdom / Sierra Leone

United States / Africa

Aminatta Forna, United Kingdom / Sierra Leone

Aminatta Forna’s Memory of Love won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best Book, was shortlisted for the Orange Prize and was selected as one of the best books of the year by the Sunday Telegraph, Financial Times and Times. She is also the author of Ancestor Stones, a novel, and The Devil That Danced on the Water, a memoir of her activist father and her country, Sierra Leone. She now lives in London. Read more

Alexandra Fuller, United States / Africa

Alexandra Fuller was born in England in 1969 and moved to Africa with her family in 1971. She has written four books of non-fiction: Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood, one of the New York Times’ Notable Books for 2002 and the winner of the 2002 Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize; Scribbling the Cat: Travels with an African Soldier; The Legend of Colton H Bryant; and her latest, Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness. She now lives in Wyoming. Read more

Host: Aislinn Hunter
Friday, October 21, 2011 - 8:00pm
Waterfront Theatre
$19

Awarded the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize this year for her fiction, Aminatta Forna has been shaped by her upbringing in Sierra Leone and by her activist father, who spoke out against that government’s corruption and was executed for his determination. No less determined, Forna is honest about her love of Africa and the trauma that accompanies her African family history. A complicated and colourful family history is also the crucible for Alexandra Fuller, whose upbringing in a white farming family in Kenya and their flight to Rhodesia(present day Zimbabwe), Malawi and Zambia is part of her multi-layered narrative Cocktail Hour under the Tree of Forgetfulness. Through their indelible memories and intelligent insights, these two writers help to shed some light on life—and lives—under African skies.

49 Under African Skies

2011 Festival