The west lays itself a trap over Uganda’s anti-gay laws
5 March 2014
Once a favourite of international aid donors, Uganda’s president is the target of western outrage following his decision last week to approve one of the continent’s nastiest anti-homosexual laws.
Africa has to act on Zimbabwe to avert a disaster
3 December 2013
Something is stirring in Africa. Belatedly, often reluctantly, its leaders are speaking out on Zimbabwe. The rogue president in their ranks, they are coming to realise, poses a threat with the potential to destabilise their fragile continent, already caught in a growing storm.
A walk to freedom... and chaos
2 December 2013
Nelson Mandela emerged with tantalising slowness. For the first time in 27 years the outside world was about to see the man who had become an iconic image for the century.
Rabble Rouser for Peace & Mandela
23 November 2013
Rabble Rouser for Peace: The authorized biography of Desmond Tutu, by John Allen
The Twilight of White Africa
23 November 2013
What is it about the experience of whites in Rhodesia that readers and publishers find so fascinating? Peter Godwin led the field with his memoir Mukiwa: a White Boy in Africa.
Why is Africa poor?
23 November 2013
”You can date the decline" of the continent, observes the colonial 'Oldest Member’ caricature in Michael Holman's vivid and entertaining new novel, Dizzy Worms, by the decay of its buildings, farms and institutions, what he terms "rings on Africa's post-independence trunk".
Last Orders at Harrods 2
21 November 2013
Michael Holman's excellent and witty début novel is set in Kuwisha, a collapsing East African nation that occupies a space in the imagination somewhere between Kenya and Tanzania. Last Orders at Harrods, written by FT's former Africa editor, is thronged with characters whose vitality demands attention
Last Orders at Harrods 3
21 November 2013
If you bought a white wristband in July and seriously believed that a has-been rocker could possibly undo centuries of neglect, corruption and exploitation, Holman's book should be manditory reading, writes ALEXIS FLYNN.
Last orders at Harrods 1
10 November 2013
"Buy this book or we shit in your car." Two African slum boys use a version of this threat – to great effect – as a way of fending off the police in Michael Holman's beautifully realised comic first novel, which may be one reason why he is planning to repeat it at the launch in Kenya of "Last orders at Harrods". But there is more to Mr. Holman's words than mere coprophilia.
Grudge-driven chip off the anti-apartheid block
10 November 2013
Children of the famous seldom have an easy upbringing. This is especially so if your parents happened to be white South Africans working for the overthrow of the apartheid state.
African angst as seen by journalists
28 October 2013
Journalist Karl Maier, correspondent of The Independent and a number of other publications, has been making repeated visits to Angola since 1986.
Colours: Forward
28 October 2013
Racial and sexual prejudice invariably hurt and Wound; but these same malign forces can also inspire and stimulate, as this collection of short stories and plays by the Zimbabwe Writer and playwright Rory Kilelea demonstrates.
Fatboy and the Dancing Ladies 1
28 October 2013
In the imaginary yet recognizable East African country of Kuwisha, a crowd of interested parties shifts and jostles for position and advantage.
Fatboy and the Dancing Ladies 2
28 October 2013
The heart of the book is life in the shanty town of Kireba, the politics of international aid and the autocratic hierarchy that has often taken hold of fledging states.
CV: Michael Holman, Africa Editor, Financial Times
25 September 2013
Born 23-12-45: in Penzance, Cornwall, but parents emigrated to southern Africa in 1947; brought up in Rhodesia/Zimbabwe
Face up to reality and start talking to Robert Mugabe
10 September 2013
It is time for the west to take stock, set aside old scores and take a fresh look at Zimbabwe.
Out of Love with Africa
23 June 2013
The Last Train to Zona Verde: Overland from Cape Town to Angola
By Paul Theroux
Stripey & The Post Box
26 June 2012
Authored and commissioned by Michael Holman, the book tells the story of Stripey the cat and his quest to solve the problem of dogs making it near impossible to post letters for fear of being ambushed and chased, ending in the hallowed halls of Number 10 Downing Street and Newsnight.
See more about the design & illustrations at www.on-idle.com/work/culture/stripey-and-the-post-box
