Today I traveled to Africa. It only took a half hour to get there, since I was driving to the south in Tucson to the AfricanVillage, part of the Tucson Gem Show. Great crafts, carvings, masks, beaded cloth, and a food booth with good African cooking.
African Village Food Booth at Tucson Gem Show
I talked with a vendor who explained this mask to me. It comes from the Ivory coast, he said, and represents a bird who is a story teller. How appropriate for A Traveler’s Library.
The Story Teller Mask. For more info go to http://www.africanmasks.ca/history-tradition
I mentioned in my post about geography, that I am rather clueless about Africa. A whole continent, and what do I know? I have seen a few movies. The Last King of Scotland. Out of Africa with Meryl Streep. The Snows of Kilimanjaro with Ava Gardner. King Solomon’s Mine with Deborah Kerr. I am dating myself here, so better stop.
And literature? Well, despite the many fine books available on Africa, I do not have many in my travel library. In my usual quest for detective stories that tell me about a country, I did read Alexander McCall Smith’s very humorous The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency and The Kalahari Typing School for Men. There are more in the series and I will probably read them, too.
But I need to find good literature by Africans, and here is a blog that is a good source. A writer from Zimbabwe, Emmanuel Sigauke, gives not only interesting posts, but links to many African sites and blogs and writers. I am running out of excuses for my ignorance.
Photos by VMB
PDF Tags: Africa, Books, Movie, Travel, travel library, travelers library, Tucson Gem Show, Vera Marie Badertscher
