An invitation to African and English literature with Ngũgĩ and Soyinka

Following on from the Verso Incontri events, the series of events for getting to know the authors of Ca’ Foscari’s literature festival ‘Incroci di civiltà’, the public is invited to African and English literature with Ngũgĩ and Soyinka. It will be in the Libreria Marco Polo in Campo Santa Margherita (Dorsoduro 2899), on Wednesday March 21st at 8pm with Shaul Bassi, professor of English Literature and Founder of the festival. The event will take place in English.

Professor Bassi awaits Wole Soyinka and Ngũgĩ Wa Thiong’o - both giants of world literature, the former won a Nobel Prize in 1986, the latter has been nominated many times. They were both proud opponents of colonialism before contesting anti-democratic post-colonial regimes. Two militant writers, they paid for their courageous ideas with prison and exile. Both are playwrights, and have showcased their deeply rooted African traditions and mythologies of Nigeria and Kenya in their works. Together they are capable of expressing themselves through literature, such as novels and autobiographies of European derivation. It can be said that their history and upbringing has enriched world literature with new hybrid forms. At Marco Polo they will be invited to read: we will ask each of the authors to discuss an autobiographical volume, the best insight into their writing, their life and the African context of their childhood, as well as an extract from a novel, which will demonstrate the differences between the classical realism of Ngũgĩ and the imaginativeness of Soyinka.

The last event of the series at the Marco Polo workshop will be on Wednesday March 28th at 8pm with Flavio Gregori, professor of English literature and vice-rector of the University’s activities and cultural relations. It will be dedicated to the work of Ian McEwan, in particular his latest novel ‘Nutshell’. The author will open the Incroci events on April 4th in the Goldoni Theatre.

For further information visit www.incrocidicivilta.org (in Italian).