African Book Talk Series - "The Fortune Men" by Nadifa Mohamed
Columbia Global Centers | Nairobi is pleased to introduce our ongoing virtual book series featuring African authors! With this series, we hope to offer a platform where African writers can engage a global audience, offering not just their work but exciting perspectives on how personal, political, and cultural experiences drive their storytelling.
The book features Mahmood Mattan, a fixture in Cardiff's Tiger Bay, 1952, which bustles with Somali and West Indian sailors, Maltese business people, and Jewish families. He is a father, chancer, some-time petty thief. He is many things, in fact, but he is not a murderer. So when a shopkeeper is brutally killed, and all eyes fall on him, Mahmood is not too worried. He has indeed been getting into trouble more often since his Welsh wife Laura left him. Nevertheless, Mahmood is secure in his innocence in a country where, he thinks, justice is served. It is only in the run-up to the trial, as the prospect of freedom dwindles, that it will dawn on Mahmood that he is in a terrifying fight for his life - against conspiracy, prejudice, and the inhumanity of the state. Moreover, under the shadow of the hangman's noose, he begins to realize that the truth may not be enough to save him.
On the 10th of June 2021, 4 PM NRB/9 AM NY, join Nadifa Mohamed and Hassan Ghedi Santur (moderator) for an exhilarating session.
Moderator Bio
Hassan Ghedi Santur is a journalist, editor, and novelist. His journalism work has appeared in The New York Times, Yahoo News, and CBC Radio. He is the author of the novels Something Remains and The Youth of God and the non-fiction book Maps of Exile. The Youth of God was a finalist for the Pius Adesanmi Memorial Award for Excellence in African Writing held in 2019 and nominated for Canada Reads in 2020. He is currently working on his third novel, Imagined Lives.
Author Bio.
Nadifa Mohamed was born in 1981 in Hargeisa, Somaliland. At the age of four, she moved with her family to London. She is the author of Black Mamba Boy, The Orchard of Lost Souls, and, most recently, The Fortune Men. She has received both the "Betty Trask" and the "Somerset Maugham" awards and numerous other prize nominations. She was also named as one of "Granta's Best of Young British Novelists" in 2013. She regularly contributes to The Guardian and BBC.