D'Angelo ft. Princess: Sometimes It Snows in April

Music guest D'Angelo pays a moving tribute to Prince by covering his classic "Sometimes It Snows in April" with help from Maya Rudolph and Gretchen Lieberum's cover band, Princess, for the Tonight Show audience.

John Akomfrah: Tate Shots

Kendrick Lamar: Untitled 2 live

Baby Eva Needs Your Support

Fundraising with GoGetFunding

'I Urge You to Struggle': An Evening With Ta-Nehisi Coates

Jazz Pianist Robert Glasper on The Tavis Smiley Show

Extended Trailer of The Supreme Price By Joanna Lipper

Common and John Legend keep it reall at the Oscars

Post by ABC Television Network.

BBC Hardtalk with Jay Naidoo: 'Tribalism' danger in South Africa

Yesterday in Barcelona...

The wonderful Kerry James Marshall in conversation with the legendary academic, Paul Gilroy about the inspiration behind his work currently on exhibition in Painting And Other Stuff at The Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona. A challenging and insightful evening.

Four more years...

Monday, 21st January, 2013

Sunday, 20 January, 2013

James Baldwin mini biography

Top of the shots

Me by Konrad Dwojak

This weekend, my colleague, the up-and-coming uber photographer, Konrad Dwojak took a couple of portrait shots of me to furnish my new website-in-the-works.

Here is a preview of one of Kon's concept shots, which I love! It was really important to get the books in the shot and the composition took a little time. While Kon was concerned that I should be the focus, he managed to achieve the right balance between me and the books and accurately but discreetly convey the message that I wanted.

This is a cropped version of the final image. The full photo is below. If you like Konrad's sophisticated camera work, you can follow him on Twitter @konradphoto.

Giving help and hope to children in need

From The Courier, Sept 2011: Safeguarding the rights of Ghanaian children is the preoccupation of Afrikids, a unique British charity which aims to put itself out of business through the development of sustainable enterprises.

Georgie Fienberg and Afrikids Ghana director, Nich Kumah

When Georgie Fienberg visited Ghana on a gap year fifteen years ago, she couldn’t have known the impact it would have on the rest of her life. Not just hers, but those of thousands of children in northern Ghana whose lives she would touch through the work of the charity she would create. Now, fifteen years later, Afrikids is a salvation for many young people who would otherwise be living without hope.

In 2001, Fienberg started Afrikids, a child rights organisation based in Ghana’s Upper East region. Inspired by the resourcefulness of those she met while travelling around the country, she felt compelled to do something. Contrary to the images shown on television of helpless natives, Fienberg found a creative and determined people who were making the best out of difficult circumstances.

Rather than go in and tell them how to do things, Fienberg worked with local people to help them improve on what they were already doing. In the process, she created an organisation which now employs 150 staff in Ghana with just a small, supporting team of four in London.

What distinguishes Afrikids from other development charities is its approach. It works to solve the root causes of children's problems, by improving community support services and by providing access to basic education and primary health care. “Our mission has always centred on children,” says Andy Thornton, Director of Afrikids UK. “We recognise that, in order to change the lives of children, you have to work with all of the surrounding factors. So we work very inclusively and holistically.”

Read more...

In conversation with M K Asante (CNN Inside Africa)

RIP Gil Scott-Heron

Model on a Mission: Noella Coursaris

Noella Coursaris

Noella Coursaris’ face may be her fortune but her charity work is worth more than its weight in gold. In 2007, the model established the Georges Malaika Foundation (GMF), named after her late father, to provide educational opportunities for young girls in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). 

By Sylvia Arthur, from The Courier

Read more...

Cassandra Wilson on Tavis Smiley

Christopher Hitchens: 'You have to choose your future regrets'

From today's Observer

In June Christopher Hitchens, the hard-drinking polemicist and atheist, met his toughest opponent yet when he was diagnosed with cancer. The question on many lips was: would his illness alter his beliefs – on Iraq, on Islam, on God? At home in Washington, with a large glass of Johnnie Walker to hand, he responds with characteristic combativeness

Currently reading Hitch 22: A Memoir... Update to follow.

Istanbul Voyeur

I took these photos on a recent trip to Istanbul. In the bottom picture, the little boy on the left wanted to copy the grown ups by taking part in pre-prayer ablutions but after he tried in vain to remove his shoes and socks he got fed up and contented himself by observing the men instead.