A lie begets a lie, and even half-truths do not endure the test of time. Nonetheless, some lies are so cosy that you would never want to spare a quarter of an ear to entertain alternative versions of them. If love marries a lie, their union would produce anything but peace. But I had peace. I raised my head to take a swift break from the game I was playing on my Nokia 3310. According to Dr Jot’s jokes,…
A book festival in Makurdi? In these days of Boko Haram and insecurity? Jeez! You’ve got guts. This is our first reaction, though it is almost immediately replaced by awe, when we see the Instagram post announcing the inaugural Benue Book and Arts Festival. However, like the toad that does not run in the daytime for nothing, we dare the odds and end up having a refreshing time, learning and unlearning from and with other literature and culture…
Eyes shut tight against the water; Andy MacAuliffe fumbled for the shower tap, found it, and twisted it shut. He opened his eyes and stood motionless as the water drained off his body in a shining tangle of shallow rivulets. When the din of tinkling had died down to a steady drip-drop-drip, he stepped out of the shower. He towelled himself dry and took a piss, savouring the long, satisfying gush and the frenetic bubbling as his jet…
The world is happy to celebrate powerful women – as long as they are fictional. From the Greeks’ mythical Amazons and the Valkyries of Icelandic sagas, to Wonder Woman striding heroically across our cinema screens, powerful women are the stuff of fantasy, the exception. But women have always been brave, smart, resourceful, strong – it’s the narratives that changed – and new findings are revealing women’s power as fact. The recent discovery by modern genome research, that…
Patrice Nganang is an award-winning writer and a thorn in the side of Cameroon’s 35-year-old government. Fresh out of jail, and something of an exile these days, the professor gives Ngum Ngafor a lecture on how his country must change. Hello Prof Nganang and thank you for agreeing to speak to The Village Square Journal. Our country has been in a political deadlock for almost two years now. Some argue that it is essentially a governance problem. What are…