AfricaIs aCountry

Poetry Radio

Africa Is a Country Podcast
African Five-a-Side Podcast

Poetry Radio

By
Tom Devriendt

Although it was only launched a year ago, Cape Town-based Badilisha Poetry Radio is rapidly building itself an impressive on-line database of weekly podcasts featuring new voices and poetic genres. “(Their) intention is to platform who and what Africa has to say to itself and the rest of the world.” Hosted by Malika Ndlovu (introducing the radio in the video above), they are “constantly seeking new poets to showcase and would therefore welcome recommendations of Pan-African poets that are not yet featured.” Visit their website.

Further Reading

The rubble of empire

Built by Italian Fascists in 1928, Mogadishu Cathedral was meant to symbolize “peaceful conquest.” Today its ruins force Somalis to confront the uneasy afterlife of colonial power and religious authority.

Atayese

Honored in Yorubaland as “one who repairs the world,” Jesse Jackson’s life bridged civil rights, pan-Africanism, empire, and contradiction—leaving behind a legacy as expansive as it was imperfect.

Bread or Messi?

Angola’s golden jubilee culminated in a multimillion-dollar match against Argentina. The price tag—and the secrecy around it—divided a nation already grappling with inequality.

Visiting Ngara

A redevelopment project in Nairobi’s Ngara district promises revival—but raises deeper questions about capital, memory, and who has the right to shape the city.

Gen Z’s electoral dilemma

Long dismissed as apathetic, Kenya’s youth forced a rupture in 2024. As the 2027 election approaches, their challenge is turning digital rebellion and street protest into political power.

A world reimagined in Black

By placing Kwame Nkrumah at the center of a global Black political network, Howard W. French reveals how the promise of pan-African emancipation was narrowed—and what its failure still costs Africa and the diaspora.

Securing Nigeria

Nigeria’s insecurity cannot be solved by foreign airstrikes or a failing state, but by rebuilding democratic, community-rooted systems of collective self-defense.