Pilgrimages, a creation of the Chinua Achebe Center for African Writers and Artists at Bard College and Chimurenga Magazine, will send 14 African writers to 13 African cities and one city in Brazil, for two weeks to explore the complexities of disparate urban landscapes. The writers will create 13 nonfiction travel-writing books - as well as a featured blog - about their trips that will capture each city as South Africa hosts Africa's first World Cup. At a time when the continent will be on display, to itself and to the world, to a greater degree than at any time since independence, the 13 collected books are intended to prompt a shift in the focus of African reportage. They will comprise the "Pilgrimages" book series, to be published simultaneously in Lagos, Nairobi, and Cape Town during the 2012 African Cup of Nations football tournament.

The 14 writers that will participate in the "Pilgrimages" project and the cities they will visit are:
> Chris Abani (Johannesburg, South Africa);
> Doreen Baingana (Hargeisa, Somaliland);
> Uzodinma Iweala (Timbuktu, Mali);
> Funmi Iyanda (Durban, South Africa);
> Billy Kahora (Luanda, Angola);
> Kojo Laing (Cape Town, South Africa);
> Victor LaValle (Kampala, Uganda);
> Alain Mabanckou (Lagos, Nigeria);
> Nimco Mahamud Hassan (Khartoum, Sudan);
> Akenji Ndumu (Abidjan, Ivory Coast);
> Yvonne Owuor (Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo);
> Nicole Turner (Nairobi, Kenya);
> Abdourahman A. Waberi (Salvador, Brazil);
> Binyavanga Wainaina (Touba, Senegal).