Kgositsile in Evanston + My Bookshelf

On Monday Keorapetse Kgositsile (1938-), the Poet Laureate of South Africa and a beacon in African and African Diasporic arts and letters, came to Northwestern to read his work. In lieu of a recap of his excellent reading, introduced by Reg Gibbons, and  graced by Douglas Ewart's pipe accompaniment on three poems, here are a few photos. I previously posted the itinerary for Kgositsile's travels throughout the rest of the spring here. His tour is winding down, and the dates and some of these final events may have changed so please check in advance, but I definitely recommend going to hear him if you can.

April 30th (Monday): Brown, 4:00 pm—arrive on Sunday the 29th and return to NYC on Tuesday

May 1st, with Chinua Achebe

Photos:

Kgositsile and Ewart (at right)

Kgositsile reading his poetry

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It's been a while since I posted what's on my bookshelf (including the books selected at right), but then I've had little time to read anything other than work-related material of late. These books, some begun a while ago, some recently brought into my personal orbit, are all for edification, education and enjoyment:

• Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games, New York: Scholastic Press, 2008.
• Samuel R. Delany, Through the Valley of the Nest of Spiders, New York: Magnus Books, 2012.
• Qwo-Li Driskill, Walking with Ghosts, Cambridge: Salt Publishing, 2005.
• Harmony Holiday, Negro League Baseball, Albany: Fence Books, 2011.
• Michel Houellebecq, The Map and the Territory, Gavin Bowd, translator, London: Heinemann, 2011.
• Michel Jouvet, The Castle of Dreams,  Laurence Garey, translator, Cambridge: MIT Press, 2008.
• Reza Negarestani, Cyclonopedia: complicity with anonymous materials, Melbourne: re-press, 2008.
• Edith Pearlman, Binocular Vision: New & Selected Stories, Wilmington: Lookout Books/University of North Carolina Wilmington, 2011.
• Charles Rice-González, Chulito: A Novel, New York: Magnus Books, 2012.
• Rebecca Skloot, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, New York: Crown, 2010.
• Justin Torres, We The Animals, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2011.
• Jesmyn Ward, Where the Line Bleeds, Chicago: Agate Publishing, 2008.
• Chris Ware, Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth, New York, Pantheon Books, 2000.