Luke Pepera’s debut Motherland: A Journey through 500,000 years of African Culture and Identity is a ground-breaking exploration of Africa’s uniquely long history and diverse cultures, interwoven with Luke’s experiences of growing up in a Ghanaian family. Luke talks to novelist Carolyn Kirby about the genesis of his remarkable book. CK: Motherland is such a […]
Researching pre-colonial Africa: why the Victorians ruffled my feathers
The bestselling author Florence Olajide writes about the difficulties of researching pre-colonial African history for her novel, The Stolen Daughter, including the language the Victorians used about her ancestors. Authors face many challenges when it comes to their writing, but my experience with African historical fiction involved some unique and personal difficulties. My first task […]
HWA Crowns winners interviews: Toby Green
Toby Green is the 2020 winner of the Historical Writers’ Association Non-Fiction Crown Award for his ground-breaking book, A Fistful of Shells. Many years of detailed research culminated in this fascinating perspective on West Africa and its unique history, as he tells Richard Genet for Historia. I catch up with Toby over Zoom after the […]