Kaveena

This dark and suspenseful novel tells the suspenseful story of a fictitious West African country caught in the grip of civil war. The dispassionate and deadpan narrator, Asante Kroma, is a former head of Secret Services and finds himself living with the corpse of the dictator, a man who once ruled his nation with an iron fist. Through a series of flashbacks and letters penned by the dictator, N’Zo Nikiema, readers discover the role of the French shadow leader, Pierre Castaneda, whose ongoing ambition to exploit the natural resources of the country knows no limits. As these powerful men use others as pawns in a violent real-life chess match, it is the murder of six year-old Kaveena and her mother’s quest for vengeance that brings about a surprise reckoning.

Boubacar Boris Diop, one of Africa's most original and important authors, has written six novels including Murambi, The Book of Bones (IUP, 2006). He currently writes and teaches in Senegal.

Sara C. Hanaburgh is Assistant Professor of French and Francophone literature at St. John's University and translator of Angele Rawiri's Fureurs et cris de femmes.

Bhakti Shringarpure is Assistant Professor of English at the University of Connecticut (Storrs). She is founding editor and Editor-in-Chief of warscapes.com, an online magazine that focuses on literature from war zones.

Ayo A. Coly is Associate Professor of Comparative Literature and African Studies at Dartmouth College and author of The Pull of Postcolonial Nationhood: Gender and Migration in Francophone African Literatures.