News & Events

On 2–3 March, the 'Green Hydrogen South–South Dialogue from Below' took place in Namibia. This event brought together community representatives, indigenous leaders, and civil society organisations from Namibia, South Africa, Brazil, Chile, and Colombia.

Describing almost 1400 Africa maps in three months: it’s no small task that student assistants Artemis Mantheakis and Beatriz Veiga have been working on within the joint ASCL-UBL Africa Maps Project. The aim is to describe a 20th-century map collection of the library of the African Studies Centre, that is housed in the Leiden University Libraries (UBL).

On 15 March 1959, Nigerian poet and novelist Ben Okri was born. He is considered one of the foremost African authors in the postmodern and post-colonial traditions. In 1991, his novel The Famished Road won the Booker Prize, making him the prize's youngest winner at 32. 

The jury of the Africa Thesis Award is delighted to announce that the 2025 prize has been awarded to Yonwaba Matshobotiyana of the University of the Free State, South Africa, with a thesis on Black women's poetry in South Africa. The jury was blown away by this strong scholarly contribution to Black feminist thought and the field of decolonial literature studies.