Add to Queue: boom saloon’s Year in Review

01_January

‘The Plague’ by Albert Camus, 1947 – as featured in ‘Reconciling’ by Farida Alvarez

Algiers born Albert Camus wrote ‘The Plague,’ based in Oran, Algeria’s second city, in 1947 – 15 years before the end of 132 years of French occupation. Read this classic piece of literature, after which you can contemplate writer Farida Alvarez’s feature, about the future of the Algerian capital and its crumbling colonial restructuring, that inspired this selection.

02_February

03_March

Oroko Radio – as featured in ‘Carina Kanbi’s West African Wave, part 1’

The last decade has witnessed the creation of new subcultures and creativity within West African cities; the energy and drive of young entrepreneurs in some of the world’s youngest urban hubs has not gone unnoticed. In Accra, Ghana, Oroko Radio is emblematic of the reclaiming and recentering of African and African diaspora narratives.

04_April

‘My Garden over Gaza,’ written by Sarah Musa and illustrated by Saffia Bazlamit – as featured in ‘10 books on Palestine to read to children’ by Yousra Samir Imran

Palestinians are renowned for the art of storytelling as a form of preservation of family memories and Palestinian culture. As Israel’s genocide in Gaza rages on, author Yousra Samir Imran shares a list of children’s books that provide a crucial touch point to help children and young people understand the history of the region and the people too often hidden behind the headlines.

05_May

‘The Offbeat Sari’ by Priya Khanchandani, 2023 – as featured in ‘It’s a journey, isn’t it?’ by Ryan Filchak

Former Head of Curatorial and Interpretation at London’s Design Museum, Priya Khanchandani’s book ‘The offbeat Sari’ explores how the sari has become a site for design innovation, an expression of identity, a form of resistance and a crafted object. She is a key figure in driving forward our cultural institutions’ moral imperatives, which, as revealed in an interview with Ryan Filchak, has long been on her agenda.

06_June

‘Ignorance’ by Joell, 2024 – as featured in ‘Joell’s artistic expressions’

We first met Joell, a Scottish Zimbabwean alt R’n’B artist, as part of our first community project, The Creative Riot. Joell began circling the underground scene before making his way to actualising his dreams as an artist, and last year released Ignorance – a three track EP and short film that tells the story of his life and how he wants to break free from societal rules.

08_August

‘The Black Mermaid’ by Zandile Ndhlovu, 2023 – as featured in ‘Waterbear’s Films Below Water’

“This is a story never told before, but more vital than ever” write our friends at Waterbear, a storytelling platform that does good. ‘The Black Mermaid’ is a modern day tale of Zandile Ndhlovu, whose expedition to see the Sardine Run shows us the danger of incomplete narratives – particularly around Black people and water. It powerfully unpacks the challenges faced by minorities, who are living one step away from the ocean but often excluded from enjoying its natural wonders.

09_September

‘In the palm of a spider’s hand’ by Gerald King, 2024 – as featured across boom saloon

“My poems have allowed me to express myself in a way that I could not have done verbally. They have allowed me to tell stories and express my feelings, whether good or bad. They have allowed me to describe what it feels like for me to be living with a diagnosis of dementia.”

10_October

‘The most secret memory of men’ by Mbougar Sarr, 2024 – as featured in ‘Kobby Ben Ben’s Pleasure Packed African Literature’

Writer Kobby Ben Ben, the author of a psychological thriller that centres queer pleasure, shared his book list for pleasure-packed African literature that, as he puts it, “has finally strayed from its reproductive, cut-to-black sex scenes favouring polygamy and a patriarchal figurehead.” Among the recommendations is Mbougar Sarr’s most recent novel, ‘The most secret memory of men,’ which Kobby praises for its admirable queer representation.

11_November

‘You Can’t Always Get What You Want’ by The Rolling Stones, 1969 – as featured in ‘Willy Gilder’s Aural Stimulus’

We were honoured to publish a feature from Willy Gilder as part of our ongoing commitment to share the voices of people with lived experience of dementia. Gilder, a former journalist, writes about the therapeutic power of music and shares some of his favourite songs of his childhood, including the Rolling Stones ‘You can’t always get what you want.’

12_December

‘Importance of Self-built Temporary Spaces, Between Traditional and Transitory Architecture: The Saharawi Wilayat in the Algerian Desert’ by Daniele Roccaro, 2023 – as featured in ‘The Features’ newsletter by Alice Paterson

In an increasingly complex world of climate-related crises, migrations and forced displacements – set to get worse this year – this paper in the Journal of Traditional Building, Architecture and Urbanism looks at the traditional architecture of the Saharawi wilaya in the Algerian desert and draws out learnings on sustainability and improved living conditions for refugees and displaced people.

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