The lights have faded, the bulbs have ceased flashing and the cameras have stopped rolling. There are no more hands to shake and no more books to sign; the party has come to an end. The announcement of the best overall winners has been made and as the sun dips behind mountain peaks, my time in South Africa draws to a melancholy close.Imagine This didn’t take home the trophy; the well-deserved accolade for best first book went to Tamima for her book A Golden Age. The best book prize went to Lawrence Hill for his masterpiece The Book of Negroes. When I found out, I was overcome by a fleeting feeling of disappointment. An overwhelming feeling of relief swiftly followed this. Winning would have been great, especially as a self-published writer, the relief however, comes from no longer feeling the weight of expectation for what is to come. However, this [...]

Hi everybody and welcome to my Commonwealth Writers blog. I’m truly excited to be in South Africa and my first impressions are, it sure aint LL (Lagos or London). Beyond the rush hour trek from the airport, the reading at Xarra bookshop and the discussion at the Roka Lounge, I haven’t yet seen much of Johannesburg and I’m not sure I’m going to be able to. What I have seen, has been through sleep deprived eyes, so I can’t comment yet. But so far it has been a wonderful experience, I’m just glad to be here. It’s so weird, it’s 3 in the morning and as I sit here tapping away I’m trying to think of words to describe how I’m feeling right now and the only way I can describe it, is that I feel like an Oscar nominee. Every year when I watch the Oscars, every nominee says, [...]