Asha Jaffar Harun

Journalist.

[British Vogue @BritishVogue]

I Aspired To Get My PhD At Cambridge – I Left Because Of The Racism https://t.co/Mw7YVGU3kK

[Sky News @SkyNews]

41-year-old Jason Arday became Cambridge's youngest black professor in 2023. He was found "unresponsive" at an address in Battersea in London on Friday afternoon. 

Jason Arday’s friend Mike Freeman spoke to Sky’s Katie Spencer and said the 41-year-old was at ‘rock bottom’ before his death.

[NY Public Library @nypl]

James Baldwin, groundbreaking Harlem-born writer and activist, was born #OTD in 1924.

Baldwin had a personal connection to two New York Public Library locations: the 135th Street branch (today the @SchomburgCenter) and the landmark 42nd Street library. The former helped shape his young intellectual mind—the latter was an important refuge in his teenage years.

In 2024, to celebrate Baldwin’s centennial, the Library mounted corresponding exhibitions in both of these buildings: 'JIMMY! God’s Black Revolutionary Mouth' at the Schomburg Center and 'James Baldwin: Mountain to Fire,' a special display within the Polonsky Exhibition of The New York Public Library’s Treasures at 42nd Street.

Listen to the audio guide for 'James Baldwin: Mountain to Fire,' hosted by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.: https://t.co/QJU2WVhDH4

📷 James Baldwin in Paris, Leslie Schenk, ca. 1949. James Baldwin Photograph Collection, Photographs and Prints Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. @nyplresearch

[Asha Jaffar Harun @AshaJaffar]

Larry Madowo on covering Africa, “warts and all.” https://t.co/Z9CP5WCtdK via @cjr

[Africa Women Journalism Project @theawjp]

🚨 Applications Open 🚨

The Gender and AI Reporting Fellowship – Cohort 2 is here!

Join journalists exploring how AI is shaping gender narratives—and how to report responsibly.
Apply now 👉 https://t.co/6KHbrh5SEP
#GenderAndAI #Journalism #AIethics

[David Perell @david_perell]

Ocean Vuong is a poet, novelist, and professor at NYU.

This is the anti writing with AI conversation. It's about breaking free from technology and convention in order to see the world fresh again, and then make beautiful art about what you see.

Some highlights:

1) "We're out here to write sentences the species has never encountered, and it's possible in this lifetime."

2) "Eighty percent of writing is looking and thinking. The last part is syntax."

3) "When you have a sentence, what you really have is consciousness filtered through syntax. For every single person, it's different."

And below are all the things we talked about, in the form of timestamps:

1:40 Writing metaphors
4:52 The problem with writing workshops
13:02 How AI changed writing
23:32 Why did writing get so rigid?
28:04 Rescue the cliche!
32:06 Seeing vs. recognizing
34:37 80% of writing isn't writing
41:31 What makes sentences memorable
50:31 Poetry as a testing ground for writers
1:02:30 Synchronic vs diachronic reading
1:09:03 Daringness and disobedience
1:14:27 The limits of language

I've shared the full interview with Ocean below. If you'd rather watch on YouTube, or listen on Apple / Spotify, check out the reply tweets.

[NTV Kenya @ntvkenya]

Marylise Buibwa: I don't see men being proactive in mentoring young boys.

#YourWorldNTV

[Forbes @Forbes]

Pop superstar Beyoncé joins our 2026 #ForbesBillionaires list. Her fortune comes from a career spanning nearly 30 years as a solo artist and a member of Destiny’s Child. Beyoncé holds the record for 35 Grammy wins, including her first Album of the Year in 2025.
Read more: https://t.co/JYn52gRk2z
Photo: Sonja Flemming/CBS via Getty Images

[National Geographic @NatGeo]

Double the #NatGeo33 changemakers means double the time. Idris and Sabrina Elba share what they’re passionate about, what drives their investment in sustainable solutions in Africa, and that Sabrina can’t stop obsessing over tortoises. See the full list: https://t.co/Bbs4fWRft5

[Asha Jaffar Harun @AshaJaffar]

Kenya’s tea exports stalled as Middle East conflict chokes Mombasa port https://t.co/s7KOYihnWi via @YouTube

[Charles Onyango-Obbo @cobbo3]

A groundbreaking workplace policy granting female county employees two days of paid menstrual leave each month in Nairobi County, home to Kenya’s capital, draws praise but sparks fears of backlash.
https://t.co/08EKuxitcS

[Forbes @Forbes]

From Destiny’s Child to global superstardom, Beyoncé built her empire over nearly three decades. With 35 Grammys and her eighth solo album Cowboy Carter, she joins the #ForbesBillionaires list. https://t.co/EQLH8Y0bCO
📸: Lyvans Boolaky via Getty Images

[Reuters @Reuters]

Kenya says death toll from floods nearly doubles to 42 https://t.co/ZhozAZDr3c https://t.co/ZhozAZDr3c

[Asha Jaffar Harun @AshaJaffar]

Kenya floods: Nairobi streets submerged, several people killed in torren... https://t.co/gsWzclORva via @YouTube

[Asha Jaffar Harun @AshaJaffar]

@chamadui Let me know !

[Asha Jaffar Harun @AshaJaffar]

Hi @chamadui it’s been 3 years.

[GIJN Africa @gijnAfrica]

💻 @AJeLearnEN e-Learning platform provides video courses in journalism from @AJEnglish's world-leading journalists and media experts.

The courses are self-paced. This means you take the course in your own time, according to your own schedule.

More 👉 https://t.co/00jq0xAnF6

[TheStarKenya @TheStarKenya]

Artificial intelligence adoption across Africa shows varying levels of uptake, with South Africa emerging as the leading market in 2025. Data indicates South Africa recording an AI adoption rate of 21.1 per cent, placing it well ahead of other countries on the continent. #starinfographics

[Vukosi Marivate 🇿🇦🚀📊 @vukosi]

The Quiet Rise of African Intelligence: Eight Africans Join UN AI Panel https://t.co/I6wWLpgZpv

[EBONY @EBONY]

Some truths don't age! 🖤