Black History Month 2020 Highlight: Part 3 February 20, 2020 – Posted in: Highlights, Readings & Excerpts

You might recognize The Youth of God by Hassan Ghedi Santur from Canada Reads Longlist! In its telling, this novel reveals the alienated lives of Somali youth in an environment riddled with crime and unemployment, while still in the grip of bitter memories of a home left behind. Hassan emigrated from Somalia to Canada at age thirteen. He has a BA in English Literature and an MFA from York University, and an MA from Columbia…

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“The Youth of God” by Hassan Ghedi Santur on Canada Reads Longlist! January 10, 2020 – Posted in: Giveaways

In case you haven’t heard, Hassan Ghedi Santur’s novel, The Youth of God, is on the longlist for Canada Reads! The Youth of God tells the story of Nuur, a sensitive and academically gifted seventeen-year-old boy growing up in Toronto’s Somali neighbourhood, as he negotiates perilously between the calling of his faith and his intellectual ambitions. Trying to influence him are a radical Muslim imam and a book-loving, dedicated teacher who shares his background. In…

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Al-Shabaab’s Theatre of Death and Destruction Comes to Nairobi, Again February 12, 2019 – Posted in: Guest Post

Four weeks have passed since explosives and gunfire ripped through the DusitD2 on the afternoon of Tuesday, January 15. The attack shattered the usual tranquility of the upscale hotel and office complex in the Westlands neighbourhood of Nairobi. The siege on the compound lasted nearly 20 hours. A haven for Western expats, NGO workers and well-to-do Kenyans, the DusitD2 was a prime target for a terrorist group in desperate need of international media attention. 21…