LITERATORS' CORNER

 Trevor is not the hero in his own story: Review of Trevor Noah's Born a Crime Born a Crime is the memoir of South Africa's world-renowned comedian, Trevor Noah, The book chronicles Trevor Noah's life from the moment of conception to the time he became a young adult. Ordinarily, one would expect that Trevor should take Centre stage in his own story and pull the spotlight to himself. However it is Trevor's Mother who gets the shine of it all, not him. Nelson Mandela is released and Apartheid (the official racial segregation policy of the white South African government) comes to an end six years after Trevor is born. So, except for the fact that his very existence is a contravention of an apartheid law, he doesn't get the opportunity to go against the system or become an activist as many have done before him. Rather, Noah grows up spoilt and almost entirely entitled. Even his grandmother is afraid to Spank him because he turns 'red' while black children remain...

  Of Memories, Motherhood and Love: A review of Nkosiyazi Kan Kanjiri's Looking for Mother by Ubaji Isiaka Abubakar Eazy Indeed, the bond between a mother and her offspring is as strong as the anchor of a ship. Many a poem have I read about motherhood, but only a few have nearly bled my eyes as Kanjiri's does. Kanjiri writes with such depth of emotion and effortless surface simplicity that he easily calls us into his emotions. 'Looking for Mother' is the poet's rite de passage into the authorship world. In the anthology, the poet goes back in time to trace events from his days of innocence to a present state of experience. Nkosiyazi poems may be terse and not as lengthy as the classical types we are wont to encounter in literature classes; meanwhile, they are nonetheless quite profound. Some are in fact quite memorable and I AM certain every reader would have mastered at least one poem by the time they finish perusing the collection. Here is one for exampl...