Abdulrazak Gurnah, School of English Emeritus Professor, has just published a new novel, entitled Afterlives (Bloomsbury, 2020).

Afterlives tells the story of three characters whose lives interlink. Restless, ambitious Ilyas was stolen from his parents by the Schutzruppe askari, the German colonial troops; after years away, he returns to his village to find his parents gone, and his sister Afiya given away.

Hamza was not stolen, but was sold; he has come of age in the army, at the right hand of an officer whose control has ensured his protection but marked him for life. Hamza does not have words for how the war ended for him. Returning to the town of his childhood, all he wants is work, however humble, and security – and the beautiful Afiya.

The century is young. The Germans and the British and the French and the Belgians and whoever else have drawn their maps and signed their treaties and divided up Africa. As they seek complete dominion they are forced to extinguish revolt after revolt by the colonised. The conflict in Europe opens another arena in east Africa where a brutal war devastates the landscape.

As these interlinked friends and survivors come and go, live and work and fall in love, the shadow of a new war lengthens and darkens, ready to snatch them up and carry them away.

Further details about the book can be found on the publisher’s website. 

Abdulrazak Gurnah’s new novel ‘Afterlives’ reviewed in Evening Standard

Abdulrazak Gurnah, School of English Emeritus Professor, has had his new novel Afterlives (Bloomsbury, 2020) reviewed in the Evening Standard.

Afterlives tells the story of three characters: restless, ambitious Ilyas was stolen from his parents by German colonial troops; after years away, he returns to his village to find his parents gone, and his sister Afiya given away. Hamza was not stolen, but was sold; he has come of age in the schutztruppe, at the right hand of an officer whose control has ensured his protection but marked him for life. As these interlinked friends and survivors come and go, live and work and fall in love, the shadow of a new war lengthens and darkens, ready to snatch them up and carry them away.

In the Evening Standard review, Jane Shilling writes: ‘in concert halls, museums, public institutions and city streets, a passionate debate is taking place about colonialism and the value of individual lives. It is a question that Abdulrazak Gurnah has repeatedly addressed in his long career as a novelist’.

‘A tender account of the extraordinariness of ordinary lives, Afterlives combines entrancing storytelling with writing whose exquisite emotional precision confirms Gurnah’s place among the outstanding stylists of modern English prose’.

The full review can be read on the Evening Standard’s website. 

And further details about the book can be found on the publisher’s website. 

The first School of Computing ‘Diversity in Technology’ inspirational speaker event takes place on Wednesday 23 September, from 14.00-16.00.

Three speakers from various BAME backgrounds will each be giving a short 20-minute talk. This will be followed by a Q&A session for students.

Speakers are:

Jason Nurse
Jason is a Senior Lecturer within the School of Computing, specialising in research that focuses on the interaction between users and aspects of cyber security, privacy and trust. He will be sharing his experience of growing up in Barbados, and how his University experience and employment at Ernst and Young has led to a career working in academia.

Temitayo Odukoya
Temitayo is the Tech Venture Lead at Colorintech, where she leads programmes and initiatives for BAME tech entrepreneurs. After studying Economics & Politics at the University of Sussex, she started her career as a Technology Consultant at Deloitte. Temitayo then went on to gain start-up investing experience at Balderton Capital, one of Europe’s most successful tech investors.  She will be discussing her experience of working as a black female in the tech sector and her motivations for aiming to improve BAME representation. 

Amanda Arthur
Amanda discovered her passion for data during her Masters in Computer Science at Kent. She is currently a Consultant Data Engineer for Kubrick Group, working at Sainsbury’s Data Tech, where she has gained extensive experience of working with Big Data using Cloud technologies. Working for partners of the Women in Data UK movement has provided her with an insight of diversity and inclusion within the data industry. Amanda will be sharing her experiences of studying at Kent, mental health and representing LGBT+ women in the data industry.

If you’re interested in attending the Diversity in Technology event, click onto the Teams link from 14.00 on Wednesday 23 September.

[Picture shows Jason Nurse, Senior Lecturer in the School of Computing at Kent]

If you’d like a break from work, tune in to your FREE lunchtime Rock Choir once more this term!

Once you get your head around singing through Zoom, it’s a fantastic way to give your brain a break and to de-stress. Rock Choir will be meeting virtually online and learning some great new arrangements together.

Rehearsals start on Zoom from the 21st of September and for the following Mondays. You can turn up to as few or as many as you’d like. If you’d like to attend (and haven’t joined a session since the start of 2020), please email jonathangrosberg@rockchoir.com to register to take part.

Places are limited, so make sure you sign up if you’re interested!

A walk-through coronavirus testing facility is opening this week in front of the Jellicoe Building car park on Medway campus.

Opening times are:
Thursday 17 September – 14.00-17.00
Friday 18 September- 10.00-17.00
And then 08.00-20.00 seven days a week.

Anyone attending an appointment at a walk-through centre will be provided with guidance on getting to and from the test site safely.

Everyone who attends the testing centre must follow a strict set of rules including following social distancing, practising good personal hygiene, not travelling by taxi or public transport and wearing a face covering throughout. There will be clear signage that directs those coming to the testing centre to move around the location in a socially distanced manner and they will be directed to leave as soon as they are finished.

Anyone with coronavirus symptoms, however mild, can get a free swab test that takes less than a minute. Tests should be booked or ordered as soon as symptoms begin at nhs.uk/coronavirus or by calling 119.

Anyone testing positive for the virus in England will be contacted by NHS Test and Trace to help them track their contacts. This will help people to identify who they may have been in close contact with, protecting others from further transmission.

As well as the testing centre on Medway campus, another walk-through testing centre is available on our Canterbury campus (Rutherford car park).

Further information on Covid-19 is available on our coronavirus webpages for staff and students.

The University of Kent is one of many organisations who are standing up for trans equality. Yesterday, in solidarity with Stonewall, 136 major UK companies came together in a show of support for trans communities.

This campaign has been created in response to the Government’s legislative action that will  negatively impact the lives, safety and careers of trans individuals. A few months ago, the government scrapped long-overdue plans to allow trans people to self-ID.

Stonewall is Britain’s leading lesbian, gay bi and trans equality charity. The University has added its name to a public statement to say trans rights are human rights, and highlight our support for trans colleagues, employees and customers.

As part of the campaign, many of these organisations have also written to the Prime Minister directly to call on the UK Government to honour its commitment to protect trans people’s rights and reform the Gender Recognition Act.