LOOKING FOR MODERN-DAY GRIOTS...
Welcome to the Motherland's most authoritative Arts and Letters online platform.
The African Griot Review is an avant-garde digital magazine that takes an in-depth look at the arts-and-culture scene in Africa and its Diaspora. We are currently accepting submissions for our August Issue, themed on “ORATURE”...
Over thirty African poets and musicians performed in a high-energy three-hour show alongside five performance poets from Poland...
Bella Napoli by Steve Gold (USA) is the winner of the second annual Alexander Nderitu Prize for World Literature...
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 manisfestions 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.
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.
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.'
