Image: Joël Andrianomearisoa, Untitled, 2016. Textile & plastic. By arrangement with the Primo Marella Gallery.
This January, we're taking a look back through the WWB archives and revisiting some of our favorite work by Black writers across the globe. As we continue efforts toward lasting structural change within the organization, we're returning to writing that gestures toward the multitudinous experience of Black life throughout the world. Featuring Ricardo Aleixo, Germano Almeida, Johannes Anyuru, Lima Barreto, Akinwumi Isola, Naomi Jackson, Ahmadou Kourouma, Magali Nirina Marson, and the Trantraal Brothers. Stay tuned later this month for new writing from Aaron Robertson, Sandra Tamele, and Évelyne Trouillot on the meaningful changes we need to better publish Black writers from around the world in the twenty-first century.
Global Blackness: Black Writers in Translation
Engaging "the evolving dialogue that broadens definitions of global Blackness."
Three Poems
A Black man is always somebody's Black man.
The True Story of “Faccetta Nera”
A black woman, in the regime’s view, simply could not be an Italian.
Falling in Love with Bahia & Brazil: On Negritude, Saudade, & Surrender
I’d taken a few capoeira classes that left me barely able to walk.
The Grammar of Easter (You Don’t Say That in English)
“Akin Isola remains one of our most versatile Nigerian writers.”—Wole Soyinka
Coloureds
I'd wait till he was asleep. Then I'd cut his throat with a knife.
Alhambra
Writing is a post-traumatic symptom.
A Form of African Identity
It was only very gradually that we came to understand that the Europeans, out of malice or simple ignorance, had instilled in us our reluctance to accept our condition as Africans.
Black Teeth and Blue Hair
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I didn’t know. Ignorance is a kind of blindness.”
Allah Is Not Obliged
Sit down and listen. And write everything down.
Abandoning Myself
Besides, poverty’s not interesting, and I don’t want them to pity me
bilingual
Book Reviews
As American as Immigration: Małgorzata Szejnert Brings to Life the Many Stories of Ellis Island
Reviewed by Mauricio Ruiz
Drawing on unpublished letters and journals, the Polish journalist always keeps an eye on revealing details in her new book "Ellis Island: A People's History," the result of extensive research into the manifold trajectories of those who set foot on a new continent and helped forge the modern US.