mercredi 28 août 2013

Richie Parker: Drive -- SC Featured

Favorite line. . . There isn't anything I can't do, there are only things I haven't done yet. . . Beautiful.

jeudi 22 août 2013

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie : Novelist

http://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story.html Inspired by Nigerian history and tragedies all but forgotten by recent generations of westerners, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s novels and stories are jewels in the crown of diasporan literature. In Nigeria, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's novel Half of a Yellow Sun has helped inspire new, cross-generational communication about the Biafran war. In this and in her other works, she seeks to instill dignity into the finest details of each character, whether poor, middle class or rich, exposing along the way the deep scars of colonialism in the African landscape. Adichie's newest book, The Thing Around Your Neck, is a brilliant collection of stories about Nigerians struggling to cope with a corrupted context in their home country, and about the Nigerian immigrant experience. Adichie builds on the literary tradition of Igbo literary giant Chinua Achebe—and when she found out that Achebe liked Half of a Yellow Sun, she says she cried for a whole day. What he said about her rings true: “We do not usually associate wisdom with beginners, but here is a new writer endowed with the gift of ancient storytellers.” http://www.halfofayellowsun.com/ http://www.ted.com/speakers/chimamanda_ngozi_adichie.html ************************* As the first female Finance Minister in Nigeria, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala attacked corruption to make the country more desirable for foreign investment and job creation. Now as a director of the World Bank and head of the Makeda Fund, she works for change in all of Africa. ******************************** Journalist Andrew Mwenda has spent his career fighting for free speech and economic empowerment throughout Africa. He argues that aid makes objects of the poor -- they become passive recipients of charity rather than active participants in their own economic betterment. ******************************* http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/fr/chris_abani_on_the_stories_of_africa.html