LOOKING FOR MODERN-DAY GRIOTS...
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Judging is currently under way for the inaugural Alexander Nderitu Prize for World Literature. The Prize will be awarded to the best unpublished short story submitted to the jurors, from anywhere in the world. This year’s contest received a total of 72 entries of which 51 were eligible for the judging phase...
2024 Caine Prize for African Writing has been handed to South African writer Nadia Davids her short story, Bridling, published in The Georgia Review in 2023....
Collected Plays (2004-2014) is a compilation of six original plays (or ‘books’, as they’re known in the West) by veteran actor/director/playwright John Sibi-Okumu...
Queen Sono is an African crime drama starring South African actress and model Pearl Thusi (Quantico) as the title character...
ABOUT US
TheAfricanGriot.com is a movement, an artistic renaissance forged in the heart of Africa. We seek to revive the role of ancient storytellers and historians - albeit adapted for the modern age. The African Griot project is a movement of which this website is but one manifestation. Other manifestations include (or shall include) publications, videos, podcasts, awards, events and more...This platform is primarily focused on Literature, Music, Poetry, Theatre, Film/Television, Fashion, and Cultural News. As a movement, The African Griot project has 'guiding lights' but no owners. Anyone can join the movement and play an active role. Our mascot is the African Elephant, by far the largest land mammal; a gentle giant known for its indomitable strength - and enduring memory. More... >
WHAT IS A GRIOT?
'We had real oral tradition in our house. I knew the word "griot" when I was a little boy. A griot is a person in Africa who is charged with keeping the stories of the village. Everyone would tell a griot the stories and they would remember them all so that they could tell future generations. When they got old, they'd tell them to somebody else. And they say in Africa that when a griot died, it was like a library was burnt down. And my mother used to tell me, before I started doing comedy, "You should be a griot". And she'd fill me with every story of Black life - she's educated in African-American Studies - and she'd let me understand the context that I was being raised in. That I was being raised in a hostile environment that I have to tame.'
- From US comedian Dave Chappelle's 2019 Mark Twain Prize acceptance speech
Dave Chappelle
ARTICLES
Be informed, inspired and entertained by insightful writings from our contributors.
Many of the ‘Slave Narratives’, including the compelling work of Frederick Douglass and the haunting confessions of Nat Turner, are now available as audio books on YouTube and other online platforms...More >
Indigenous Kenyan musicals are so rare that a few of them, coming out in the last two decades, have each claimed to be ‘the first Kenyan musical'... More >
Jaws dropped in Africa after Ngũgi wa Thiong’o (highly favoured to win over the previous few years) was once again overlooked...More >
NEWS & OPPORTUNITIES
The latest arts-oriented call-outs, competitions, scholarships, and prizes from around the globe.
WISDOM OF THE ELDERS
‘For Africa to me… is more than a glamorous fact. It is a historical truth. No man can know where he is going unless he knows exactly where he has been and exactly how he arrived at his present place.’
‘The role of the artist is the same as the role of the lover. If I love you, I have to make you conscious of the things you don't see.’
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‘The enemies of a people are those who keep them in ignorance.’
‘We cannot speak of taking up the challenge of a new century for African literature unless we address the necessity to devise the means by which literature in African languages becomes the major component of the continent's literature.'
