I’m Carlos Battaglini and I left everything to become a writer. Here you will find posts about my curious life in Liberia and other African countries. It is also where I immerse myself in the burning light of African literature through brutally honest book reviews. Welcome to your home and thanks for joining me on this adventure.
I left everything to become a writer, join me on this adventure.
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I GENTLY WALK INTO THE MINISTRY OF LAND, MINES AND ENERGY in Liberia, but nobody sees me. They are all there, but nobody sees me. They are asleep. The secretary, receptionist or whatever she is, is spread across the desk, her forehead against the surface and her arms stretched out, almost reaching out to the tiles…
Doe’s government had never been stable and had always run the risk of being overthrown at any time, until the point that there was an attempted coup by Quiwonkpa, Doe’s former friend and comrade in arms. Samuel Doe came to be arrested but he managed to bribe the soldier who captured him and ended up…
This novel also considers how most utopian dreams of liberation in the recently independent Africa of the 1960s came crumbling down. Like many other revolutionary dreams, they wound up in nothing, including the revolutions lead by Fidel Castro and Mao Tse-Tung: a void left behind by new purportedly socialist parties, only adding to the disappointment.…
COME, COME IN. WELCOME TO MY HOME ON UN DRIVE. This salmon coloured sofa is what I most like about my lounge, as well as the granite bar in my kitchen that you can see right there. The Liberian lad who is strolling slowly in the kitchen is Kraweah. The couple with the white hair…
Now. I walk down the hill of UN Drive towards my house in Mamba Point and I see her. It’s as if the Liberians who are randomly walking around on the street move to one side to let her go by. It’s like the Moses effect, when he parted the sea. She is like a…
I DON’T REMEMBER VERY WELL WHERE I WAS COMING FROM, but walking on UN Drive I came upon a deserted island on my right. Now I remember. I was coming from Miami Beach where I had stupidly gone at the hands of Jacinta and her daughter who had brought me there by means of an…
The narrator’s voice maintains an objective and firm tone throughout, but on page 130, the narrator surprisingly expresses an opinion about the new, cruel Reverend Smith, saying that he should have known that the Kingdom of God does not depend on the masses. “He should have known that the kingdom of God did not depend…
Things Fall Apart is a classic piece of African literature, and why not, of world literature. The story portrays a typical African rural reality (Nigerian in this case), where the relationship between religion, white man and the colonisation of the African continent is explained. Certainly, back in the day in Africa (as on other continents…
Blue Clay People tells the story of William Powers, a North American aid worker in Liberia back in 1999. Powers lands in the African country as a member of the NGO Catholic Relief Services (CRS) with the task of fighting against poverty and saving the rainforest in a country gripped by the peril of a…
Our football team has won and we’re all celebrating at the Red Lion, under the influence of Club Beers and other natural juices. Like every other day, nightfall is punctual and dictatorial. Waving Flag is playing in the background, waking us all up and making us imagine because dreaming is more difficult. It has been…
Latests posts Now. I walk down the hill of UN Drive towards my house in Mamba Point and I see her. It’s as if the Liberians who are randomly walking around on the street move to one side to let her go by. It’s like the Moses effect, when he parted the sea. She is like a…
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HE RAISES HIS HAND. In the middle of the trial, the man with the gold earring raises his hand and asks for permission to go to the bathroom for a minute. The judge looks at the two police officers and concedes with a slight nod of the head. In Paynesville they continue talking about the…
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Why Nobody Knows When He Will Die is a book that consists of ten stories on different subjects of everyday African and Liberian reality, many of which can be extrapolated to the rest of the world (bearing in mind cultural differences). The stories are written in the third person and are narrated in a precise,…
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The Shadow of the Sun narrates the experiences of the Polish journalist, Ryszard Kapuscinski in Africa. Kapuscinski lives in Africa not as a ‘happy tourist’, but rather as a daring reporter who gets himself into all sorts of situations on his search for an interesting experience. He never travels first class, nor does he sleep…
Read more The narrator’s voice maintains an objective and firm tone throughout, but on page 130, the narrator surprisingly expresses an opinion about the new, cruel Reverend Smith, saying that he should have known that the Kingdom of God does not depend on the masses. “He should have known that the kingdom of God did not depend…
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It’s the brakes. A steel voice informs me that something is wrong with the brake fluid. My car is not up to it, or perhaps it’s just melancholic. And since then, I walk. Now I am a white guy whose soles tread upon the tarmac of Mamba Point and who’s covered in sweat by the…
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The Beautyful ones are not yet born by Ayi-Kweih-Armah is a novel that tells the story of a railway traffic control clerk in Ghana, who is disenchanted with life and the course of events in his country. The main character remains nameless, as Armah simply refers to him as ‘the man”. He feels very lonely and misunderstood…
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There’s a certain military feel to the air, and people who come and go, smiling all over the place. To be exact, we are in the room that is trying to be a bar, surrounded by garish flags that hang from the ceiling, humus on the bar, more smiles and on the TV Jerry Lee…
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I’ve never had to deal with them. I don’t know what they talk about. I ignore what they like. In meetings, all countries are usually present but them. I have received emails from colleagues of all nationalities but them. There are a lot of them but you never see them in restaurants, in bars at…
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What is it that’s so important you have to say? Well, here goes. Friends, readers, comrades and others, it’s time for me to take off the mask! The time has come for me to introduce myself to all of you! Now listen. My name is Carlos Battaglini, and I am a Spanish writer (from the…
Read moreAfrica
There is someone in the kitchen. It’s a young man of medium height. His name is Anthony and he moves stealthily. As if he were wearing socks instead of shoes. Anthony opens the pantry, takes out some fruit and brings…
I hit the streets once again without an umbrella in Liberia and after taking a mere seven steps, I have to go back in. Under some kind of porch, I wait to see if the rain gradually calms down. But…
GOAL. Goooal!!!! That was a goooooal !!! Goooooooal!!! The whole Samuel Doe Stadium erupts. It’s party time. We embrace, we’re all Liberians today and we are dancing with everyone. Gilberto is engaging in consensual fondling with the girl sitting behind…
Africa
FOR A WHILE NOW I HAVE TRIED TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT AFRICAN LITERATURE, a far from simple exploration for a European dominated by the White canon. And now here, in Accra – who would have thought so a few…
Click, click. We have several photos taken with the people at the organisation and with the whole village. Those photos immortalise a great moment. Then we set off to see the cassava plantations on the outskirts of Bounaldine, Liberia. We walk…
Helene Cooper tells us that she had ancestors on the colonisation ships coming from the United States, specifically Elijah Johnson, a man with a lot…
Going back to Helene Cooper’s life, it became considerably more complicated when the Liberian civil war broke out, a factor that forced her to move…
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IN GHANA, RELIGIOUS CONCENTRATIONS HAVE A POWERFUL STRONGHOLD. ‘Empowerment’, as the phenomenon is called, is full of clergymen whose faces are shown on many street…
VICTOR, ANESA AND I TAKE UP THE CENTRE OF THE ROOM AT BLACK AND WHITE FORMING A TRIANGLE. We start dancing with energy. Here, in…
Things Fall Apart is a novel that narrates the story of Okonkwo, an Igbo farmer and warrior who settled in the fictitious village of Umuofia…
Blue Clay People tells the story of William Powers, a North American aid worker in Liberia back in 1999. Powers lands in the African country…
Don’t miss
The granite tiles at the Zaventem airport in Brussels are a stranger colour every time I see them. The marble I slowly discover increasingly adopts…
The word Party encapsulates the meaning of the universe. The idea of a party offers an opportunity to escape from the powerful and dictatorial god…
