Overview

Foreword by Bernardine Evaristo Award-winning author and cultural critic Sarah Ladipo Manyika takes us on aremarkable journey across contemporary cultural and political landscapes as she talks to some ofthe most distinguished black thinkers of our times, including Nobel Laureates Toni Morrison andWole Soyinka, and civic leaders first lady MichelleObama and Senator Cory Booker. We meet activists, artists and intellectuals who have been deeply involved inshaping the gripping debates of public discourse. With grace and energy, Manyika searches for truthwith poet Claudia Rankine and historian Henry Louis Gates, who leads the Hutchins Center forAfrican & African American Research at HarvardUniversity (the world's largest such centre). She discusses race and gender with South African filmmaker Xoliswa Sithole and American actor Anna D. Smith. She interrogates the world around uswith parliamentarian Lord Michael Hastings and civil-rights activist Pastor Evan Mawarire, whodared to take on President Robert Mugabe and lived to tell the tale. Each encounter is incisive, powerful and erudite; together they represent a vital gathering ofideas that speak to us all: on racial reckoning and decolonisation,structural and systemic inequalities, and the role of the artist, activist, and public intellectualin society. Each conversation is also intimate and special, allowing for deep insights into thecomplex issues discussed. While these are well-knownfigures and exemplary in their respective fields, Manyika's skill, warmth and unique friendshipwith each allow us to see the person behind their public profile. In journeys that book-end the collection, Manyika reflects on her own experience of being seen aswhite in Nigeria, African in England, Arab in France, coloured in South Africa and black inAmerica, while feeling the least black and most human amon erfellow travellers, explorers all, against the sharp white relief of the South Pole.

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9781804440087

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Reviews

The writing is crisp and un-showy, the storytelling immersive, and the characters are all written with sensitivity, showing their humanity. * Bernardine Evaristo, on In Dependence * In dreamlike prose, Manyika dips in and out of her present, her past, in a story that argues always for generosity, for connection, for a vigorous and joyful endurance. * Karen Jay Fowler, on Like a Mule Bringing Ice Cream to the Sun * If ageing be a lamp, then Morayo, the protagonist . . . is a mesmerising glow. Astute, sensual, funny, and moving. * NoViolet Bulawayo, on Like a Mule Bringing Ice Cream to the Sun * Like the dusty spines on Morayo's bookshelves, every character in this novel hides a vibrant, teeming inner world behind an unspectacular facade . . . Ladipo Manyika's book reminds us of the value of indulgence and delight - in sex, in food, in company, and in reading. * New Statesman, on Like a Mule Bringing Ice Cream to the Sun * It is a mark of Manyika's care for her characters that life and love so engagingly result in a hopeful union. * Akin Adesokan, on In Dependence * A big and elegantly told story of lost love. * Brian Chikwava, on In Dependence * What draws me to this work is what inspired it: A desire to bring Black voices from the African diaspora to the foreground. And Sarah Ladipo Manyika has assembled her subjects very carefully; each person in this book indeed conveys the power, strength and sheer diversity of the African diaspora. This is a one-of-a-kind book, a necessary and important one * Delroy Lindo * 'Extraordinary conversations with many of the greatest minds and most inspiring figures of our age. Each encounter framed and presented with enormous literary skill and grace. Together they form a snap-shot of the where the peoples of the Black diaspora stand, today in the early 21st Century, and how much has been overcome to get here' * David Olusoga, author of Black and British * 'Sarah Ladipo Manyika brings an intimate, eclectic, and delightfully startling freshness in this remarkably curated celebration of the African Diaspora. Her curiosity and ranging insights sharpens the genius, and the humanity, of her (already familiar) subjects, and our appreciation of them, and what an absolute joy to savor Between Starshine and Clay' * NoViolet Bulawayo * 'Sarah brings us an important book full of inspiring voices and leaders engaged in the most important issues of the day. It is an amazing collection that will inspire readers young and old' * Dame Vivian Hunt * 'Even though Sarah Ladipo Manyika's medium is language, to read her Between Starshine and Clay is like seeing an animator at work. Little by little, we see her subjects taking shape, and then, with a sudden blink, we are being invited to participate in choices made, joys, regrets, and lives fully lived. A lesson in magic from Manyika's writing' * Ato Quayson *

Extraordinary conversations with many of the greatest minds and most inspiring figures of our age. Each encounter framed and presented with enormous literary skill and grace. Together they form a snap-shot of the where the peoples of the Black diaspora stand, today in the early 21st Century, and how much has been overcome to get here. * David Olusoga, author of Black and British * Sarah Ladipo Manyika brings an intimate, eclectic, and delightfully startling freshness in this remarkably curated celebration of the African Diaspora. Her curiosity and ranging insights sharpens the genius, and the humanity, of her (already familiar) subjects, and our appreciation of them, and what an absolute joy to savor Between Starshine and Clay * NoViolet Bulawayo, author of Glory * What draws me to this work is what inspired it: A desire to bring Black voices from the African diaspora to the foreground. And Sarah Ladipo Manyika has assembled her subjects very carefully; each person in this book indeed conveys the power, strength and sheer diversity of the African diaspora. This is a one-of-a-kind book, a necessary and important one * Delroy Lindo * The writing is crisp and un-showy, the storytelling immersive, and the characters are all written with sensitivity, showing their humanity. * Bernardine Evaristo, on In Dependence * In dreamlike prose, Manyika dips in and out of her present, her past, in a story that argues always for generosity, for connection, for a vigorous and joyful endurance. * Karen Jay Fowler, on Like a Mule Bringing Ice Cream to the Sun * If ageing be a lamp, then Morayo, the protagonist . . . is a mesmerising glow. Astute, sensual, funny, and moving. * NoViolet Bulawayo, on Like a Mule Bringing Ice Cream to the Sun * Like the dusty spines on Morayo's bookshelves, every character in this novel hides a vibrant, teeming inner world behind an unspectacular facade . . . Ladipo Manyika's book reminds us of the value of indulgence and delight - in sex, in food, in company, and in reading. * New Statesman, on Like a Mule Bringing Ice Cream to the Sun * It is a mark of Manyika's care for her characters that life and love so engagingly result in a hopeful union. * Akin Adesokan, on In Dependence * A big and elegantly told story of lost love. * Brian Chikwava, on In Dependence * 'Extraordinary conversations with many of the greatest minds and most inspiring figures of our age. Each encounter framed and presented with enormous literary skill and grace. Together they form a snap-shot of the where the peoples of the Black diaspora stand, today in the early 21st Century, and how much has been overcome to get here' * David Olusoga, author of Black and British * 'Sarah brings us an important book full of inspiring voices and leaders engaged in the most important issues of the day. It is an amazing collection that will inspire readers young and old' * Dame Vivian Hunt * 'Even though Sarah Ladipo Manyika's medium is language, to read her Between Starshine and Clay is like seeing an animator at work. Little by little, we see her subjects taking shape, and then, with a sudden blink, we are being invited to participate in choices made, joys, regrets, and lives fully lived. A lesson in magic from Manyika's writing' * Ato Quayson *

Author Information

Sarah Ladipo Manyika is a British-Nigerian-American writer of novels, short stories and essaystranslated into several languages. She is author of the best-selling novel In Dependence (2009) andmultiple shortlisted novel Like A Mule Bringing Ice Cream To The Sun (2016), and has had workpublished in publications including Granta, The Guardian, the Washington Post and Transfuge among others. Sarahserves as Board Chair for the women's writing residency, Hedgebrook; she was previously BoardDirector for the Museum of the African Diaspora, San Francisco; and has been a judge for the Goldsmiths Prize, California Book Awards, AspenWords Literary Prize, and Chair of judges for the Pan-African Etisalat Prize.

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