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When gunmen stormed the Radisson Blu hotel in the capital of Mali, Bamako, two weeks ago, twenty two people were left dead. An al-Qaeda affiliated group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

One man who happened to be in the lobby was Leon Aharra Gnama, an engineer originally from Togo, who was in the country for a conference. He lay on the floor of the hotel for 6 hours, covered in the bodies of dead victims and terrified the attackers would return for him (Some of his descriptions are quite graphic).

The prize winning Sudanese writer Leila Aboulela talks about the inspiration behind her novel - Minaret. It tells the story of a young Sudanese woman called Najwa who, in the wake of a coup d'etat, flees with her mother and brother to London. Despite having come from a wealthy family in Khartoum, the novel starts with Najwa arriving to be interviewed as a maid, the only job she is qualified for, and it's winter.

Ms Pat is an American comedian who has starred in stand up comedy shows on US TV such as Stand up in Stilettos and Live at Gotham. Yet before the comedy Ms Pat had a tough start in life; she spent her teenage years selling crack on the streets of Atlanta.

Caroline Ariba is young journalist from Uganda who's making waves. She's just won the best Young Journalist from the developing world award at a ceremony in London. Her inspiration for her stories came after she discovered a group of orphaned children who had been abandoned and were living alone after a camp for displaced people had been closed.

(Picture: A security official, holding a gun, stands in front of the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako, Mali, the site of a mass shooting.
Picture credit: Issouf Sanogo/AFP/Getty Images)