Nii Ayikwei Parkes

The Future of Professional Criticism Looks Something Like This Demand for cultural commentary is higher than it’s ever been—but now that commentary is coming from unconventional new sources.

This year has been grim for professional arts criticism. @skornhaber.bsky.social reports on the fans, stans, and influencers who are filling the gap:

Zoë Wicomb, the South African-Scottish writer who told powerful stories about belonging A guide to the work of an acclaimed writer who represented the marginalised in society.

Good piece here about Zoë Wicomb, who died earlier this week, by Derek Attridge. She was brilliant in so many ways. 💔💔

UK’s Palestine Action group wins legal bid to challenge ban UK court to hear challenge to the pro-Palestine group's ban under 'anti-terrorism' laws after government loses appeal.

UK court to hear challenge to the pro-Palestine group's ban under 'anti-terrorism' laws after government loses appeal.

If you're new to bsky or missed this, excellent starter pack.

#AfricanSFF #booksky 🪐📚💙

I did a conversation about my book, The Second Emancipation, with Kola Tubosun, at Africa House, in Harlem. Watch it here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZarM...

Home - Sudan Solidarity Collective Solidarity with Sudan! Support the Emergency Response Rooms doing life saving work in Sudan by donating to the Sudan Solidarity Fund. Workshops4Sudan is a new fundraising initiative of the Sudan Solid...

The Sudan Solidarity Collective is doing a big fundraising push to support our partners in El Fashir to support food distribution, evacuation and medications.

Please help us boost our support. Please share and donate 👇🏾 .

sudansolidarity.com

UK has a Prime Minister, a human rights lawyer, no less, who says nothing about a clear genocide, but wants to do everything to enable football fans who have proved their violent conduct in another European city (#Amsterdam) to come to Birmingham and cause chaos. Surreal!

#AstonVilla
#Ajax

Donations for mutual aid groups dropped by 50% since the ceasefire announcement. Most of the bombing stopped but the genocide continues and Palestinians in Gaza are in dire need of material support. Donate today: https://chuffed.org/project/help-us-deliver-vital-aid-to-gaza-families-in-need

The genocide is not over. Ceasefire is not liberation. Keep giving. chuffed.org/project/help...

“Donations for mutual aid groups dropped by 50% since the ceasefire announcement. Most of the bombing stopped but the genocide continues and Palestinians in Gaza are in dire need of material support.”

The University of Southern California and the University of Pennsylvania have also joined the list of schools refusing to accept the Trump administration's demands.

Other institutions must follow their lead.

For years, men controlled one village's coffee industry - but one woman changed that Meridah Nandudu was a single mom of two kids, unemployed and in despair. Then she had an idea: Maybe the "humble" coffee beans she'd grown up with on her parents' farm could lead her to a better life.

Meridah Nandudu was a single mom of two kids, unemployed and in despair. Then she had an idea: Maybe the "humble" coffee beans she'd grown up with on her parents' farm could lead her to a better life.

Prince Andrew to relinquish royal titles In a new book, one of Jeffrey Epstein’s victims wrote a lurid account of being sexually abused by Prince Andrew, a younger brother of King Charles III.

Breaking news: Prince Andrew has agreed to relinquish his royal titles following fresh revelations of his ties to Jeffrey Epstein and alleged Chinese espionage.

The crumbling seaside palaces at the centre of Britain’s asylum crisis [FREE TO READ] How one hotelier built an empire from beloved community assets — and a government struggling to cope with a surge in migration

Exceptional piece from @jenwilliamsft.bsky.social about the man who owns formerly grand, now grotty hotels now housing people who have fled to the UK on.ft.com/4nvXIa4

'Washington Post' Publishes Jamal Khashoggi's Last Column Noel King talks to Karen Attiah, of The Washington Post, about the column which was filed before Khashoggi disappeared. He wrote passionately about the need for a free press in the Arab world.

I hired Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2017, and worked with him closely until he was murdered by the Saudi regime in Istanbul -- simply for expressing himself.

I put my safety on the line for years to push publicly for justice and accountability in his murder.

www.npr.org/2018/10/18/6...

The Washington Post Fired Me — But My Voice Will Not Be Silenced. I spoke out against hatred and violence in America — and it cost me my job.

Some personal news:

I've been fired from the Washington Post in the aftermath of the Charlie Kirk shooting.

Thread incoming.

substack.com/@karenattiah...

Thank you 🙏🏾

Photograph of the cover of "Tail of the Blue Bird" by Ghanaian author and poet Nii Aykwei Parkes.

I picked up this copy of "Tail of the Blue Bird" in the "African Authors" section of the Ikirezi Bookshop in Kigali, Rwandaback in2016. @niiayikwei.bsky.social has an amazing ear for cadence and dialogue, and a wry teasing sense of humor that makes for a fun and unconventional whodunnit mystery.

Sometimes it's quicker to chat ish: vm.tiktok.com/ZNdgUasw6/ – even if the video is a little out of synch with the audio and subtitling...
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#BeyondTheHeadlines
#MigrantHotels
#WriterAtWork
#Capitalism
#Media
#DivisionAndProfit
#AllStugglesAreOne
#Immigration
#Racism
#FalseFlagPolitics
#migration

Israeli settlers beat U.S. citizen to death in West Bank A 21-year-old Florida man was beaten to death by Israeli settlers while visiting family in the West Bank.

A 21-year-old Florida man was beaten to death by Israeli settlers while visiting family in the West Bank.

Israeli forces bombard Gaza as Israel-Hamas ceasefire talks stall Israel’s relentless bombardment of Gaza continues a day after Israeli forces killed 110 Palestinians across the Strip.

Israel’s relentless bombardment of Gaza continues a day after Israeli forces killed 110 Palestinians across the Strip.

I can't believe it's been 20 years! Full text on Tumblr:

www.tumblr.com/poerhetorica...

Graphic with an olive green background and cream text, stating: "it it not antisemitic to be ethical".

Simple things...

Full video on TT:
vm.tiktok.com/ZNdU57fvU/

I just returned from the Head Read festival in Estonia where I was invited to talk about a translation of Tail of the Blue Bird & today I realised that yesterday (June 3) was the 15th (yes, FIFTEENTH!) anniversary of the paperback release of my little début novel that keeps giving. What a journey!

This is monstrous.

Finally got around to reading this and highly recommend it—not just because my work on respectability politics is cited (as part of a broader set of good, useful descriptive research).

Grateful to @dandekadt.bsky.social and @annagbusse.bsky.social for this piece. Add it to your reading list.

A Scholarship for Black Medical Students Honored His Father’s Legacy. The University Canceled It. Scotched in the midst of a DEI purge, the scholarship at the University of Alabama at Birmingham was meant ultimately to reduce racial disparities in health.

www.chronicle.com/article/a-sc...

A genocide is a genocide, is a genocide, is a genocide...

This expands a similar purge recently at the Naval Academy library, in Maryland. Last month, civilian Navy officials, following orders originating from Mr. Hegseth, pulled from shelves books including one that critiqued “The Bell Curve,” a 1994 text that argues that Black men and women are genetically less intelligent than white people. But the academy kept “The Bell Curve” itself on its shelves.

You’re allowed to argue that black people and women are genetically inferior. But you’re NOT allowed to argue they are NOT inferior because that’s divisive. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/09/u...

It really would be embarrassing to be a journalist insisting this isn't a genocide because there's no proof of Israeli intent.

A photo of Viola Ford Fletcher with her hands clasped

Today is the 111th birthday of Viola Ford Fletcher, the oldest living survivor of the 1921 Tulsa race massacre