The Women’s Prize for Fiction is the most prestigious literary prize in the United Kingdom. Formerly known as the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction, the prize goes to female authors of any nationality for full-length English novel published in the United Kingdom the preceding year. There are 163 entries this year but the judges painstakingly cut it down to 16. However, three Nigerian authors (Oyinkan Braithwaite, Akwaeke Emezi, and Diana Evans) made it to the longlist. The Women’s Prize for Fiction was founded in 1996. The inspiration for the prize was prompted by the 1991 Booker Prize which sidelined female…
Author: aveditor
President Felix Thisekedi of the Democratic Republic of Congo and his predecessor Joseph Kabila have agreed to form a coalition government. Tshisekedi, who won the recent presidential elections, was not able to gain enough support in Parliament. Kabila’s party holds the majority seats in parliament. Through this agreement, Joseph Kabila finds himself in government again. Kabila did not vie for the top seat in the December 30 2018 elections. ALSO READ: Ethiopia PM Resigns In Bid To Sustainable Peace and Democracy Factors Leading to the Coalition President Tshisekedi could not push through his choice for Prime Minister in parliament. The stalemate…
Ethiopian Yomif Kejelcha on Sunday 3rd March set a new 1-mile indoor world record. The previous record was set in 1997 by Moroccan Hicham El Guerrouj. Yomif Kejelcha finished at 3:47.01 to break the previous record of 3:48.45. Three weeks earlier, Kajelcha came close to breaking the record but missed by hundredth of a second with a time of 3:48.46. https://twitter.com/RunnerSpace_com/status/1102321174065938433 The 21-year old runner trumped the former record by 1.44 seconds in Boston. Yomif Kejelcha who is a two-time champion of 3000m came to Boston with the intention of breaking the 1500m and 1-mile world record. Although he missed…
The Batwa tribe is one of the oldest in Africa. They originally resided in the rainforests of Congo, Uganda, and Rwanda. They survived many decades through hunting and gathering. However, in the 1990s, the government evicted them from the rainforest leaving them homeless. This and subsequent events threw them into poverty. The actions of the governments of the three countries were prompted by the need to create a national park. The national parks helped to preserve the population of endangered gorillas in the Virunga Mountains. Since then, the population of the gorillas has grown to 880 in 2018 from 284…
Standard Chartered Bank is starting its second phase of digital-only retail banking in Africa. This follows the successful launch of the bank’s first digital retail services in Cote d’Ivoire. The bank made the announcement for the second phase on January 31 2019. The bank targets to launch the second phase in the first quarter of 2019. The key markets in this first quarter are Uganda, Kenya, Ghana, and Tanzania. ALSO READ: Ecobank and MTN join forces to drive mobile financial services in Africa Demand According to the bank, the launch was necessitated by increasing demand for innovative banking services. Standard Chartered,…
The 26th edition of Festival Panafricain du Cinéma et de la télévision de Ouagadougou (FESPACO) has come and gone leaving valuable memories and lessons behind. Hitherto, the biennial event of international renown promotes African cinemas. However, this year’s edition also marks the 50th anniversary of the celebration. The weeklong event ran from February 23rd to March 2nd. During the festival, a statue of ex-Burkina Faso president, Thomas Sankara was unveiled. The five meters high bronze statue was built close to where he died. To date, Sankara holds a dear position as an icon of pan-Africanism. He also played a prominent…
The 2019 International Women’s Day is tackling a strong topic under the theme #BalanceforBetter. Come Friday 8th March 2019, women around the globe will echo their need for balance. This year, the annual event aims to create awareness on gender inequality and the need to celebrate women’s achievements. According to the International Women’s Day (IWD) website, “Right now is a great and important time in history to do everything possible to help forge a more gender-balanced world. Women have come a long way, yet there’s still more to be achieved.” ALSO READ: These Uganda Policemen Show A Powerful Display Of Feminism…
Sheelah Garbrah is a Ghanaian fashion designer currently based in Ghana. Her fashion label, “Shebybena” is widely worn by celebrities within and outside the country. She has sewn for popular actresses like Yvonne Nelson and Joselyn Dumas. Garbrah’s passion for cloth making began at a tender age. Confirming this in an interview, the 31-year old designer said, “My passion for fashion started when I was in secondary school. I found myself always sketching clothes and designing. I loved to design my own clothes for seamstresses when my mum took us to have dresses made.” Appearances at major fashion shows Fashion…
Kamaru Usman made history on the 3rd of March 2019 by becoming the first African UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) Champion. Usman, 31, achieved the feat by beating the defending champion, Tyron Woodley in Las Vegas. Woodley became the champion in 2016 and has defended the title four times before his loss to the Nigerian fighter. After his crowning, Kamaru Usman said, “Can’t nobody handle me? I’ve been wanting this fight, and I’ll be honest, I might be the best striker in the world. But when it comes to mixing this stuff up, I’m the best welterweight on the planet right…
The Global Digital Report 2019 by Hootsuite and We Are Social is out. The report brings about an exciting revelation of how the world is growing fast in terms of digital resources and utilization. The number of new users taking up and consuming internet resources is increasing by the second in all parts of the world. Additionally, the number of individuals using mobile phones is also increasing by the day. This means that more people are using the internet and mobile telephony technologies today than ever before. In a day, more than one million people start using the internet for…