JZ brought to book again, as Zodwa calms the masses
When I first read Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s bestselling novel Americanah upon its release in 2014, I thought it would make a good movie.
Imagine my joy and sense of artistic vindication when actress Lupita Nyong’o, of Black Panther and Twelve Years a Slave fame, confirmed recently she was adapting the novel for the screen.
Having bought the film rights, she originally wanted to make a movie out of it but has since changed her mind. She is now going to make a television mini-series. I think a series would do justice to this thumping tale that spans three countries – Nigeria, Britain and the US – and unfolds over a period of 20 years.
Americanah is probably the most commercially successful novel out of Africa in recent years, having sold over a million copies and catapulted Adichie into a super celebrity who jostles for cover space on fashion magazines with world celebrities such as Beyoncé and Kim Kardashian.
Incidentally, it was Queen Bey who was instrumental in
Not quite gone
Vera knows there is never a dull moment in this beautiful country of ours, but even she feared what would become of us once the herdboy from the kingdom of a thousand hills left for good.
We have all been coping, somewhat, since uBaba kaDuduzane was sent packing – kicking and screaming – to spend the rest of his days with MaKhumalo, provided they haven’t ordered orange overalls for him already.
Buffalo and his false dawn have somewhat kept us gainly occupied but ubaba has been lurking somewhere in the shadows – nothing new there, he’s always been a shady character as we are all aware by now.
uBaba ka ANN7
the success of Americanah. When she sampled a few lines from Adichie’s essay We Should All Be Feminists for her song Flawless, the American public and so-called “woke” people of the world suddenly took an interest in this hitherto mildly successful Nigerian author.
It helped that when Flawless was released, Americanah was still relatively new on bookstore shelves. Suddenly booksellers in the US saw copies of the book being snapped up.
Adichie appeared on TV and got paid loads of money to speak at university campuses.
As an African and a lover of the arts, I was thrilled at the success of one of us. What made me even happier was that it is not another tale of African wars, disease – in other words “poverty porn”.
To summarise the book, as teenagers in a Lagos school, Ifemelu and Obinze fall in love. After matriculating, Ifemelu departs for the US to further her studies.
Upon arriving, she discovers what it means to be a
Anyway, our hero has lived a life Vera imagines many presidents probably fantasise about. Governments like spreading propaganda, and therefore hardly keep their paws off the media, hence the appetite to control such crucial instruments as a national broadcaster.
PW Botha had his infamous red telephone which legend has it he would dial to rearrange the news bulletin at the SAUK. The pipesmoking fella had a snuki planted in the belly of the beast.
But the peasant from Nkandla trumped them all by having the SABC under a permanent dark Hlaud(i) and topped it all by getting to name a TV channel and design the logo, all the while moonlighting as a president.
And all along we thought all he was good at was singing and making babies.
The juicy details of uBaba kaDuduzane’s hitherto unknown talents came to light with the release this week of a tell-all book released by a former black person in a country with a deepseated culture of racism. Ifemelu gains success for her blog about race. In spite of the financial success, she still feels unfulfilled. She misses Obinze, who has been kicked out of London and is now back in Nigeria. I shall pause there, lest I spoil the story.
I am hoping Gupta functionary revealing how our great thinker came up with the name ANN7.
Name dropping Nkandla-style
He also got to name the people he fancied to play with the toy. That’s how the Native Formerly Known as Jimmy found himself in the manyi – oops money! – when ubaba forwarded his name to Saxonwold. Folks, that’s how you create a spaza media mogul – ubaba uyamthanda is all the qualification you need and voila! Have faith in radical economic transformation.
Zodwa wethu somlandela
Elsewhere in Mzansi life went on and we shall therefore be grateful for such characters as Zodwa wa Bantu.
She who has declared a one-lass war on underwear reportedly made calls this week for calm over her deportation from Zambia. She that Nyong’o’s adaptation will live up to this beautiful, gentle tale that celebrates African humanity, intellectualism and, of course, romance. Nyong’o has confirmed that she will produce the series, and also play the character of Ifemelu. The busy Nyong’o – a Kenyan born in Mexico – is also working with Trevor Noah in adapting his autobiography Born a Crime into a movie.
There’s a surging interest in stories that affirm the African.
In 2014, first-time Cameroonian novelist Imbolo Mbue was paid a cool $1million (about R12-million) for her first novel Behold the Dreamers, which has also been optioned for a movie. Last year, 23-year-old Harvard-educated Nigerian novelist Tomi Adeyemi scored a $1-million book and movie deal for Children of Blood and Bone: Legacy of Orisha.
It is remarkable that the artists turning the tide to tell African stories tend to be women. See the world through the eyes of a woman. It’s gentler, friendlier. was sent packing before she could appear at a nightclub there to do whatever it is that she does for a living.
Zodwa ordered her no-doubt horny army of followers not to visit any harm on Zambians in SA over her deportation ... Ja neh?!
Vera is still trying to figure out what it is that Zodwa does. Whatever it is, is it worth it for people to have their knickers in a knot for someone who sees no use for the garment?
Trickle-down effect
Then there was that video of a home affairs official “multitasking” making the rounds on social media. The honourable minister was outraged and demanded answers.
Vera suspects the Gupta’s citizenship application forms passed through this madam’s hands, hence the minister’s confusion about their citizenship. But more importantly, Vera believes the first thing the minister will ask this official when he grills her is: “Haven’t you heard of Candy Crush?”