Yash Tandon is drawn into a state of melancholic nostalgia by fellow Ugandan Yasmin-Alibhai Brown's , which, despite its 'beguiling distractive title', has a 'serious political side'. In a 'beautifully carved memoir of a brave woman', Alibhai-Brown 'draws from forgotten sources a memorabilia of facts and foibles to spin out the multiple contradictions in a country that slowly, but painfully, metamorphosed from a colony to a politically independent neo-colony of Britain'. Alibhai-Brown's accounts of 'daily life caught in the maelstrom of national and global politics' are interspersed every few pages 'with a cornucopia of culinary delights'. 'It is a compelling odyssey worth reading, both for its political message and for its gastronomic delights', says Tandon.

Brian Chikwava's comedic new novel and An Elegy for Easterly, Petina Gappah's courageous collection of short stories, confirm that Zimbabwe is still a literary powerhouse, writes Tendai Marima.

Helen Mukholi reviews Nobel Prize Laureate Wangari Maathai's ‘The Challenge for Africa: a New Vision for an Emerging Continent'. While suggesting that some of the book's ideas may sound a little familiar, Mukholi finds the book to be an inspiring read.

This issue of AfricaFocus features brief notices of 15 books published so far in 2009 that AfricaFocus readers are likely to be interested in. This listing, including 10 on continent-wide issues or countries outside South Africa and 5 on South Africa, is far from comprehensive. But it includes a good selection of thoughtful analyses by both African writers and experienced non-African observers of the African scene.

The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) is pleased to invite all visitors to the 8th Nigeria International Book fair (NIBF) to the book exhibition that it is organizing during the NIBF. The 8th Nigeria International Book Fair (NIBF 2009) is scheduled to hold from May 11th - 16th, 2009 at the Multi-purpose Halls of the University of Lagos.

Phanuel Akubueze Egejuru is ‘totally enthralled’ by poet Shailja Patel’s performance about Zanzibari musician Bi Kidude at an Africa Literature Association conference in April. She describes here her experience of watching what the Igbo call ‘oha kara lama’, an event whose memory travellers carry and disperse in distant lands.

Phanuel Akubueze Egejuru is awed by Kenyan poet Shailja Patel’s ‘eye-popping phraseology’ in , a volume of work around the theme of migration and its impact on human relationships. ‘Too delicate and too good to be touched’, Egejuru warns that the book may make painful reading for those who experienced direct colonisation, as Patel takes the reader ‘through years of exploitation…in Africa and Asia’. It is however ‘a must-read’, devoured by Ejeguru in one sitting, which ‘forges fresh expressions that invigorate and inspire budding poets to take risks and experiment’.

After a demanding training session on the soccer pitch, the entire Black Aces football team has squeezed into a small, stuffy room at the club's headquarters in Witbank, a town northeast of Johannesburg, South Africa, for training of a different kind. The men are in various states of repose, leaning back in their seats and resting long legs on chairs, but the air is buzzing with testosterone and the repressed energy of men who are more accustomed to expressing themselves with their feet.

Cut Off My Tongue explores the truths that shape us as Kenyans - our beliefs, the way we behave and why. It is no ordinary reading of poetry, but a spirited invocation to Africans to colonize and mold their own history. It is a show about land, about tribe, about personal discovery, about identity and relationships. The show makes you think and laugh at the same time. It rants, sweats, breaks into song and dance!

Did you know that hyenas have intelligent hunting skills? 'They surround a toothless old hyena at the edge of the thorny hedged cattle kraal and bite it so hard that the only escape is to push through the sharp thorns. Once an opening is created; an army of fierce hyenas will go into a meat grabbing spree', narrates Songol, a lady residing in Baringo district of Kenya's Rift Valley. Mostly associated with cowardice, hyenas will bite off cows' udders and goats' bowels before they even seek to kill their prey. Hyenas also scavenge for food from graves and feed on the leftovers by lions and cheetahs.

Transport unions in Morocco are stepping up their protests over provisions of traffic laws currently under discussion in the Chamber of Councillors. Workers held a strike on Monday (April 6th), disrupting everyday life for the third time in recent weeks, after a stoppage on March 12th and a sit-in on March 16th outside the parliament building.

Paediatric antiretroviral therapy is feasible in decentralised, nurse- and counsellor-led programmes in public health clinics in rural areas in South Africa, according to research presented at the Fourth South African AIDS Conference in Durban earlier this month.

An explosive book about Kenya’s December 2007 bungled election has been launched in Stockholm. The book, Raila Odinga’s Stolen Presidency: Consequences and The Future of Kenya written by Mr. Okoth Osewe, a Kenyan author, takes the position that the December 2007 election was rigged by the Samuel Kivuitu-led Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) in favor of Mr. Mwai Kibaki who was immediately sworn in as President in a hurriedly convened secret ceremony at State House Nairobi on Sunday December 30th 2007.

An Ethiopian film about the regime of the country's former dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam has won the chief prize at Africa's main movie awards ceremony. Teza was the unanimous winner of the Golden Stallion of Yennenga at the event in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Director Haile Gerima's award was accepted by his sister Selome, who also co-produced the film.

Covering sex, pregnancy, HIV and AIDS, drugs and the law, health, violent crime, self defence, abuse, sexual assault, keeping safe, education admission, rules and regulations, exclusion, reports and records, examinations, safety, student finance, studying and training, applying for work and finding a job, work and training contracts, rights at work, losing your job, banking, income tax, spending, among other things. The Youth Survival Guide is a must-have reference for matriculants and young adults.

The Travail of Dieudonné is the tale of a triple estrangement. Nyamnjoh’s protagonist is physically separated from his homeland (Warzone), beloved wife (Tsanga) and opulence associated with materialism. The writer adumbrates, ‘Dieudonné misses his home village to the point of tears’. (p. 153) Mimboland, his country of choice, is a dichotomised world where the haves and have-nots cohabitate. While Beverly Hills swims in the niceties of life, Swine Quarter – home to the underprivileged – is likened to a ‘bleeding ghetto’ reputed for its ‘muddy meanders of footpaths and shacks whose walls were delicately sustained by ant-infested wood, human excrement, dog shit…multitudes of rats and cockroaches that celebrated impunity.’ (p. 149)

Britain is joining the latest scramble in Africa – to reverse decades of decay and even the disappearance of large parts of road and rail systems – with a $1bn (£690m) project to rebuild the transport network across the south of the continent. The UK has announced an agreement with eight African countries and the World Bank that will see the reconstruction of 5,280 miles (8,500km) of roads and the rejuvenation of 373 miles of railways, including some new track and the upgrading of border posts.

Hans M. Zell’s is unique and certainly one of the most useful reference resource books on publishing and the book trade in Africa. First published in 1996 under the title: Publishing and Book Development in Sub-Saharan Africa. An Annotated Bibliography (co-edited with Cecile Lomer), this book has filled a gap in the publishing world ever since.

The roll-out of antiretroviral therapy may paradoxically increase stigma, reduce counselling and testing and increase sexual risk-taking, according to the findings of a Tanzania based study published in the online edition of the journal Sexually Transmitted Infections.

The Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura, has condemned the killing of Malagasy broadcast television journalist Ando Ratovonirina and called for improved safety of journalists. “I condemn the killing of Ando Ratovonirina,” declared the Director-General. “Ando Ratovonirina died in the line of duty, while reporting on events that are important for the whole of Malagasy society. His loss is a blow to a profession that is essential to the fundamental human right of freedom of expression, a right that is important to each and every one of us, a right that is vital for democracy and good governance.