Ondjaki interviewed in Numero Cinq + John Ralston Saul shows love for Good Morning Comrades on Twitter

Earlier today on Twitter, John Ralston Saul, President of PEN International and author of The Comeback, expressed his admiration for Good Morning Comrades, Ondjaki's "magical 1st novel."

To learn more about this up-and-coming star of Angolan fiction, check out this great interview with Benjamin Woodard, just posted on Numero Cinq. Woodard also wrote an excellent review of Granma Nineteen and the Soviet's Secret, Ondjaki's second novel in English, released in 2014.

Biblioasis is currently at work at translating Os Transparentes, winner of the 2013 Jose Saramago Prize, and generally considered Ondjaki's masterwork.

Ondjaki in the Times Literary Supplement

Hey all. Happy to report that rumour became reality this weekend, with a thoughtful review running in Friday's Times Literary Supplement for Granma Nineteen and the Soviet's Secret. You won't be able to find it online, but here are the highlights:

"As with Ondjaki's other novels—including Bom dis camaradas (2001; Good Morning Comrades) and Os Transparentes (2012)—this is a strangely deceptive read. Although the narrative often feels rather whimsical, Angola's long history of colonialism and conflict, its various foreign allies and enemies, and the extraordinary suffering of its population, are menacingly present ... a brave and highly political work."

The piece—written by Lara Pawson, former BBC correspondent to Angola—also does a good job of providing an historical context for Ondjaki's novel, and it draws forward the aspects of it that linger deliberately in the background. Want to see the whole thing? Feel free to drop us an email, and we'll arrange for you to see it. 

Ondjaki featured on Paul Kennedy's Ideas!

This is great: CBC's Ideas with Paul Kennedy features an entertaining, colourful, hilarious, nigh hour-long conversation with Angolan trickster/charmer Ondjaki. Literary equations are goofy, but I kinda like this one: imagine if the benevolent ghosts of Clarice Lispector & Mark Twain crosspolinated to try their hand at utopic YA set during the Angolan Civil War. That might give you a sense of the eccentricity and magic behind his picaresque Granma Nineteen and the Soviet's Secret, a coming-of-age story that is literally explosive.

Ondjaki Signing

It's been a busy last few weeks at the Bibliomanse getting ready for multiple launches and parties. So on May 6 it was wonderful to be able to relax and get to know some of our authors, particularly Ondjaki.

After the authors finished their readings and everyone had dispersed, I brought my copy of Granma Nineteen and the Soviet's Secret to Ondjaki and asked him if he would sign it. Pen in hand he glanced at me and asked "may I draw?" the answer to which can only ever be yes.

He began by dipping his fingers into a cup of tea nearby and smearing it in lines across the page. I'll admit at first I cringed a little, but as he worked I began to relax. There was something so soothing about watching his pen fly across the page, translating thought to art.

At first he had two drawings encapsulated on two different pages and he announced that they needed to be connected. The first thing that I thought of was the closing line to his novel that he had read out earlier: "I need stars... Because the sky doesn't know how to dance alone!"

When he was finished I thanked him for taking the time to draw something so beautiful. He handed the book back to me, looking discontent and said "there's still something missing."

I regarded the two page spread, galaxies of lines and dots dancing together, before saying that I loved it anyways. "There's music in it," I told him, and meant it.

Words & Curds: Ondjaki Interviewed by Evan Munday/Open Book Toronto

Apparently, that
had bacon in it.

Evan Munday, formerly of Coach House Books, has started up a quirky new interview series on Open Book Toronto, and weren't we just tickled when he approached us about talking to Ondjaki during his Granma Nineteen tour? Yep, sure were. Fair warning though, folks: this is an XXL-sized interview, not for the slender of waist. In both proportions and deliciousness it rivals the poutine that inspired it. Plus there are some fantastic stories in there about Ondjaki's childhood, the stories in Granma that are real or partly real, life as a child in socialist Angola, and the niceties of Canadian bacon. Leia-o agora mesmo!

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Ondjaki Appearing at IFOA

Join Host Grace O'Connell as she welcomes Ondjaki, Miriam Toews and Evie Wyld to present their latest works at Toronto's International Festival of Authors on Wednesday, April 30th.

Ondjaki was named one of The Guardian's Top Five African Writers in 2012. His most recent novel translated to English, Granma Nineteen and the Soviet's Secret, was shortlisted in 2010 under the Best Book of the Year category of the São Paolo Prize for Literature. In 2013 Ondjaki won the José Saramago Prize for Literature.

Miriam Toews, 2004 Governor General's award winner and Giller Prize finaliast, will be celebrating the launch of her newest book All My Puny Sorrows. Evie Wyld will be reading from her second novel All the Birds, Singing. Her first novel, After the Fire, A Still Small Voice won the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize.

Host Grace O'Connell has been nominated for the RBC Browen Wallace Award and two National Magazine Awards for fiction. Her novel Magnified World is a national bestseller.

The event begins at 7:30 pm in the York Quay Centre Brigantine Room, 235 Queens Quay West, Toronto.

For more information visit the IFOA website here.

Presenting Ondjaki and Granma Nineteen

Next week we're delighted to announce that Ondjaki, one of Angola's best-known and most beloved authors, will embark on a cross-country Canadian tour. Are you in Ottawa? Toronto? Montreal? Windsor? Vancouver? Come out and hear the voice that has captured over a dozen international prizes and earned praise around the globe. For his complete tour schedule, read on! We'll have more about Granma Nineteen in the coming days.

1. Ottawa Writers Fest, OTTAWA

Tuesday, April 29 – 8:30pm 

"Another Word for Nothing Left" 

with Padma Viswanathan, Ondjaki and Nadia Bozak

hosted by CBC's Adrian Harewood 

(location: Knox Presbyterian Church, 120 Lisgar Street at Elgin)

2. International Festival of Authors (IFOA), TORONTO

Wednesday, April 30 – 7:30pm

Reading with Ondjaki, Miriam Toews and Evie Wyld 

(location: York Quay Centre, Brigantine Room)

3. Blue Metropolis Festival, MONTREAL                        

                           Friday, May 2^nd – 7pm – 7:20pm

                            Book signing (location: Las Americas)

Saturday, May 3^rd – 3:30pm – 4:30pm 

“Memory, family lore and fiction” 

with Luis Alberto Urrea, David Homel, and Ondjaki

(location: Las Americas)

Saturday, May 3^rd – 5pm – 6pm

“Cara a Cara Com Ondjaki” Portuguese language event 

(location: Las Americas)

Saturday, May 3^rd – 8pm – 9:30pm

“Face to Face With Ondjaki” Interview

hosted by CBC's Paul Kennedy 

(location: Salle Godin)

4. Biblioasis Spring Fiction Launch, WINDSOR

Tuesday, May 6 – 7pm

Reading with Ray Robertson, C.P. Boyko, K.D. Miller and Ondjaki 

(location: Biblioasis bookshop)

5. Incite: Vancouver International Writers Fest, VANCOUVER

Wednesday, May 7 – 7:30pm

Reading with Ondjaki, Claire Battershill and Sean Michaels 

(location: Alice MacKay Room, Central Library)