Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read. Dialogues Cafe invites all the book lovers to its Sept 2019 edition of Dialogues with books. We host this delightful gathering once a month ! "Most people write me off when they see me. They do not know my story. They say I am just an African. They judge me before they get to know me. What they do not know is The pride I have in the blood that runs through my veins; The pride I have in my rich culture and the history of my people; The pride I have in my strong family ties and the deep connection to my community; The pride I have in the African music, African art, and African dance; The pride I have in my name and the meaning behind it." -Idowu Koyenikan Hello fellow bibliophiles, While Koyenikan wrote these lines in the context of Africans creating prosperous lives for themselves, it aptly describes the state of African Literature too. Many have read about Chinua Achebe but few have read him. Few are familiar with the richness of African cultures across tribes, across ethnicities, across countries, across scores of languages and dialects. We owe it to ourselves to not oversimplify (and trivialize!) Africa as a monolithic "fourth world" entity but to look at it as a melting pot of many rich and diverse cultures and ways of life. African Literature is a compelling kaleidoscope that offers deep perspectives about ancient and modern African ideas of art, themes, content and everyday life, and how they are strongly interwoven in storytelling. In the next discussion of Dialogues With Books, let us journey together into the surreal storytelling of Ben Okri, the brutal realities of Chimamanda Adichie, the wistfully poetic yet heartbreakingly concise narratives of Coetzee, and the many hundreds of worlds painted by their ilk across this magnificent continent. It is a 2.5-hours event where we divide time equally between the participants and we prefer each participant to contribute through reading a passage from their favorite book. We also allow free-flowing discussions which are moderated by our host. Those who do not wish to read can also attend the event and participate in the discussions. Also, This event is not a platform for people to promote their own(or family/friends) books. Charges for the event: INR 150 for a regular customer, INR 100 for students. It includes one drink complimentary at Dialogues Cafe. Our host Mandar Mutalikdesai